Goddess in the Mirror
by Lendrick
Summary: What would have happened if Belldandy had never gotten the chance to grant Keiichi's wish? What if, somehow, Mara managed to get there first?
1. Chapter 1: Divine Thing

Goddess in the Mirror

Chapter 1: Divine Thing

By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye

Gods, demons, and mortals alike often speak of a force that is so subtle and so incredibly powerful that neither the Ultimate Force, nor its demonic counterpart, the Infernal Power, could ever hope to stand up to it. This force, often mentioned and erroneously written off as non-existent, is known as Fate.

A demoness stood over the shoulder of the imp X'ggh'zphn. Xig, as the imp preferred to be called, was tapping away at a computer terminal in his cozy little office in the third circle of Hell. The demoness leaned over and whispered into his ear, allowing her blonde hair to wash tantalizingly over his back and the nape of his neck.

"Make me proud, X'ggh'zphn."

Xig noted with pleasure that the demoness had managed to pronounce his name without sounding like she was choking on a hairball--something which required either three extra tongue muscles or an extraordinary amount of oral control. Either way, he surmised, she was probably phenomenal in bed.

"Anything you say, Lady Mara," the imp cackled.

Xig was, for all intents and purposes, your average imp--at least in the areas of appearance and demeanor. He stood about three feet tall, and sat a good bit less than that. He was a deep red color, and his shiny, bald little head sported a pair of puny, dull horns. A hole in the back of the grungy little pair of pants he wore made room for a long, pointy tail, which was casually wrapped around Mara's posterior. There was one thing, and one thing only, that separated X'ggh'zphn from all the other imps in the Third Circle.

He was the only being in the vast streches of Hell that had ever managed to hack into the Yggdrasil System.

Keiichi Morisato was a quiet, unassuming college student of below-average stature and slender build. Living with the large and often obnoxious members of the Nekomi Auto Club, Keiichi was what some people would call a round peg in a square hole. Tonight was to be a night among nights--a night of peace and quiet, free from the din and ruckus that always seemed to follow his dorm-mates around. Tonight, Keiichi Morisato was going to sit back, relax, and try to get a little homework done.

He was peering lazily at his Chinese History textbook, when his stomach growled. It was a low, angry growl that started near the top of his intestines and made its way up into his abdomen, causing him to realize just how uncomfortably hungry he was getting. He made a show of checking the refrigerator, although deep down he already knew that all it contained was half a carton of spoiled milk, an empty jar of mayonnaise, and a pack of cold cuts that, legend had it, had been there since before the men of the Nekomi Auto Club had moved in seven years ago.

Wearily, he reached for the telephone book and started paging through it in search of a restaurant that would deliver food to his dorm. He finally settled on Happy Ming's Chinese Wok--not that he actually liked their food--it was more the fact that they were cheap, close, and fast. He picked up the telephone and dialed.

"Happy Ming's Chinese Wok. Can I help you?"

Keiichi scratched his head and looked at the menu. "Yeah, I'd like an order of Hunan beef and a side of fried dumplings, please."

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line, accompanied by the sound of numbers being punched into a cash register.

"All right, that comes to five hundred ninety Yen. We'll have it ready for you to pick up in fifteen minutes."

"Um, can you make that a delivery?"

"I'm sorry, sir," the voice replied, "but we don't deliver until after five PM."

"All right, well thanks anyway." For nothing, he thought to himself.

Keiichi clicked the hang-up button and dialed another restaurant. This time, a recorded voice politely informed him that they wouldn't be open for another three hours. Further attempts yielded similar results--one place had closed down, and another turned out to be the private residence of a man who was sick and tired of people calling his house and ordering ramen. Steeling himself for one final try, Keiichi Morisato dialed the only other take-out place he could think of.

"Goddess Help Line," said a soft, compassionate voice at the far side of the line.

Keiichi blinked. "Come again?"

"I'll be right there to give you a consultation." The woman on the other end--whoever she was--hung up before Keiichi had a chance to reply. Peering suspiciously at the telephone, he hung up, leaned back against the wall, and let out a resigned sigh.

"This just isn't turning out to be my day," he mumbled to himself.

Then his stereo exploded.

Too shocked for words, Keiichi simply sat frozen against the wall, eyes bulging as a woman stepped out of the smoke from the remains for his hi-fi system.

"Dammit, that was uncomfortable," she said. "Couldn't you be like every other little college geek and leave a CD or two lying out in the open?"

In response, Keiichi twitched a bit.

As the smoke cleared, the form of a tall woman came into view. She was tall--about six feet or so--and was possessed of a figure that would make most supermodels jealous. A cascade of wavy blonde hair framed striking facial features, including a strange pair of red markings on her forehead and two more below each cheek. She wore a pair of red high heels, a tight black skirt, and an ornate top that stopped just above her belly button and revealed a good bit more than it hid.

Hips swaying, the woman approached him, her high heels tapping quietly against the wooden floor. She then got down on one knee and leaned toward him, leaving him little to guess as to the contents of her shirt. Moving in ever closer so that her lips almost brushed against his ear, she whispered to him.

"Make a wish, little boy."

Keiichi swallowed hard. "Um, who are you?"

"I'm the goddess Mara," replied the woman. "I'm here to grant you anything you wish for."

"Anything? Like, anything at all?" he stammered.

"Anything you could possibly want," she breathed.

"Ya know," Keiichi said skeptically, "you don't sound like the woman I talked to on the telephone."

"I sound different in person. Now stop stalling and make your damn wish before I make it for you."

This couldn't be happening. This quite literally could not be happening. A beautiful woman pops out of his stereo--destroying it in the process--and claims to be a goddess, offering to grant him his deepest desire.

This had to be a joke. It'd be just like his obnoxious dorm mates to pull something like this, getting him all worked up and destroying the 30,000 Yen stereo that he had spent the better part of last summer saving up for. They were probably off in the next room with a video camera, taping his reaction to the whole thing.

Well, he would just have to do something they'll never expect. He'd go with it.

Keiichi sat up, a determined look in his eyes. "I want you," he said, "to be my girlfriend ... forever!"

"Granted," whispered the self-proclaimed goddess. She then stood up and took a few steps backward. Her expression grew distant for a moment, and then her back arched suddenly and two brilliant beams of light shot out of the marks in her forehead.

Keiichi was, to say the least, stunned. It didn't help that the woman was now floating two feet in the air, and his things were spinning around the room. He decided that, at this point, it might be in his best interest to pass out.

The last few days were a blur in the mind of Verdandi Asgard. She was an exchange student from Norway--she knew that much--but the details of the trip to Japan escaped her entirely. Dismissing the memory lapse as jet lag, she settled down to the task of finding the apartment her parents had arranged for her. Northwood Tower, room 319. She set her suitcase down on the sidewalk and paused to check the map that the Nekomi Tech housing office had supplied her with earlier.

The word "tower" suggested something a bit more grand than the squat, four-story brick building that the directions led her to. It seemed like a relatively nice place, though, at least from the outside. Shrugging, she pushed her way through the old wooden double-doors that led into the building.

The lobby was clean but inadequately lit, and smelled faintly of pine. A quick glance at the mailboxes along the far wall of the room told her that they had been expecting her arrival. Her name, typed in European letters on a piece of paper behind the two inch square glass window in box 319, was misspelled "Belldandy" Asgard. She considered asking to have it corrected, but decided against it; "Belldandy," although incorrect, just sounded nice for some reason, and comfortingly familiar as well.

Stopping briefly at the front desk, she presented her ID, filled out a few forms, and was given the key to her room. Heaving her suitcase up two flights of stairs, she found her room quickly, and was relieved to discover that it was pre-furnished.

Her apartment consisted of a living room, two bedrooms, a small kitchen, and an even smaller bathroom. While it wasn't large by any stretch, it was more than enough to accommodate her. Deciding on the bedroom with the window overlooking central campus, she opened her suitcase up on the bed and began to load her clothing into the old, varnished oak vanity that had been supplied with the residence.

She paused for a moment at her reflection in the mirror. Though she knew she had seen it thousands of times before, her appearance was strangely new to her for some reason. She was just over five feet tall, with long, straight brown hair. Her form and features were average; nothing was particularly wrong with the way she looked, but she certainly wasn't eye-catching either. Perhaps her only truly distinguishing feature was the softness and wisdom in her eyes. The expression on the face that looked back at her was one of someone who had lived many more than her nineteen years, and seen much more than her little hometown back in Norway. Despite this, though, she looked somehow lost, as if she was looking for something more, but had long since given up hope of finding it. Letting out a small sigh, she continued with the job of unpacking her belongings. Her first semester at Nekomi Tech would be starting tomorrow, and now was not a time for daydreaming.

Keiichi awoke to a warm sensation on his cheek and a faint smell of cinnamon. When he opened his eyes to look around, he found, to his horror, that he was being breathed on by the sultry young woman who had somehow magically trashed his apartment some time earlier. She was straddling him, and her arms were wrapped loosely around his neck. He could almost swear he saw a pair of fangs sticking out behind her pouty, blood-red lips. He tried vainly to scoot away from her, but the wall behind him prevented any form of escape.

"You're utterly pathetic," she intoned.

Keiichi just swallowed.

She tilted her head downward and looked up at him, eyes afire with unabashed, burning lust like none Keiichi had ever seen. "Now just hold still, little boy, and let me grant your wish."

As she closed in on him, Keiichi somehow managed to duck under her arms and slip from her grasp, then scramble away along the wall. She again moved toward him, but he got to his feet before she could reach him.

"All right, that's enough!" he exclaimed, bordering on nervous anger. "I don't know who put you up to this, but you need to leave, right now. This is a men-only dorm, and when my sempai see me in here with you, they'll throw us both out."

"Oh, but Keiichi," she said, grinning, "I can't leave you. You see, you wished for me to be here, and the 'ultimate force' has been set into motion to make sure that nothing will ever separate us." The way she said 'ultimate force' almost made it sound as if it were some sort of inside joke, although Keiichi himself had never heard the term before, so he was unsure of what to make of it.

Not that it mattered. At that moment--a most inopportune one, by Keiichi's reckoning--he could clearly make out the sound the front door opening, and the steady thumping noise of his many large dormmates trudging up the stairs. With a whoosh, the door flung open, revealing the massive Tamiya, and his pseudo-punk buddy, Ootaki, followed by most of the dorm's other residents.

"Morisato," Tamiya said sternly, "did I get any phone calls today?"

He stopped for a moment, his hard expression changing to one of shock as his eyes came to rest on Mara.

Keiichi grinned sheepishly under his dorm-mates' glares. "Uh, this, uhm, isn't what it looks like." His newfound companion, meanwhile, crept up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, blowing slightly into his ear.

"To the contrary, this is exactly what it looks like," she stated.

"My, that was entertaining," said Mara, surveying the small section of sidewalk upon which she and her charge were now seated.

Keiichi glowered at her. "You waltz into my room, blow up my stereo, and get me kicked out of the dorm, and then have the nerve to call it entertaining? I don't even know you!"

Grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt, she drew him close to her face slowly, but with a surprising amount of strength. "Listen here, you little geek," she said in a tone just above a whisper. "You're five foot three, you're skinny, you're square, and you have the backbone of a snail. You're the absolute epitome of human inadequacy. You don't know how lucky you are that you had a chance to wish for me, because I assure you, no worthwhile woman would ever fall in love with you as you are. Now get up off your sorry little ass and find us a place to stay this instant, or there's gonna be hell to pay!"

Keiichi blinked, biting his lower lip as she let him go. Drawing in a shaky breath, he rubbed his eyes for a moment and then stood slowly and shivered in the cool evening breeze. "Well," he said languidly, "I guess I'll check the classifieds. Maybe we can get a sublet or something."

Depositing the last of his change in a nearby newspaper machine, he purchased a copy of the NIT Times and opened it up to the classifieds section. The vast majority of the available rooms, he noted, were well out of his price range.

"Uh, Mara?" he ventured.

"What?" she said shortly.

"Do you have any money you could pitch in for rent?"

"Are you some kind of moron or something? What the hell would a goddess need money for?"

Keiichi sighed, checking the ads one more time. The only one he could even remotely afford was a room up on the third floor of the Northwood building. The ad was worded urgently, and ended with "Reply ASAP." The telephone number listed was a long-distance one, implying that whoever was renting the apartment had already left. He knocked on the door of his former dormitory, was grudgingly admitted back inside so that he could use the telephone.

"Hello?" answered a worn, hoarse voice on the far end of the line.

"Hi, this is Keiichi Morisato calling about the sublet ad you ran in today's paper. Is Makoto Fujiyama there, please?"

"This is."

"Is the apartment still available?"

"Yeah," said the voice, "you're the first one to call about it."

"How soon could we move in?"

"I suppose you could probably move in tonight if you wanted. Nobody's using the place right now."

Keiichi breathed a sigh of relief. "Where should I pick up the key?"

"They've got it at the front desk over at Northwood Tower. I'll call ahead and let them know you're coming ... you'll probably have to pay a month ahead for it, if that's all right."

"Yeah, I can do that. Listen, I have a question for you, if you don't mind me asking..."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Your ad seemed kind of urgent, like you really wanted to get out of there ... there's nothing wrong with the apartment, is there?"

"Oh, no, the apartment's just fine. It's kind of a family emergency thing."

Keiichi winced. "Oh, jeez, I'm sorry."

Makoto Fuji sighed. "Don't sweat it. Hopefully things will improve. I'm just glad a found a sublet ... I wouldn't want to have to pay full price for a place I'm not gonna be staying in."

Keiichi nodded. "Okay. Well, unless there's something else I need to know, I'll let you go so I can get started moving in."

"Nothing I can think of," Makoto replied.

"Anyway, thanks. I really appreciate this."

"It's no problem."

Keiichi set the telephone back on its hook and sighed again. He had lucked out, certainly, but the guy on the other end of the line hadn't sounded too well; Keiichi was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of succeeding at the cost of another person's welfare.

He stopped to thank his former dormmates and then went back outside. The goddess Mara was standing on the sidewalk beside his luggage, tapping her foot impatiently. She looked angry, certainly, but she was also, as Keiichi noted before, breathtakingly gorgeous. "I am lucky to be with this girl," he thought to himself.

"Well?" She fixed her gaze upon him, her tone demanding.

He nodded. "Yeah, we got a place. 320 Northwood Tower ... we can move in tonight."

"Good. I was beginning to think you were going to leave me out in the cold overnight. I wouldn't put that past someone like you. Now let's get moving."

Too tired to object to her accusation, Keiichi picked up his two suitcases--Mara offered no help--and started toward Northwood tower, which, fortunately, was only half a block away. When they arrived there a few minutes later, Keiichi noted that the lobby was a bit dark, but not particularly dirty or run-down.

"Are you Keiichi Morisato?" asked the girl at the front desk, when he entered with his baggage.

"Yeah, that's me." He set his suitcases down by the wall and approached the front desk.

"Makoto Fujiyama just called about you a few minutes ago," said the girl. "I've got a couple forms for you to fill out ... and I'll need a down-payment of twenty thousand yen before I can give you your key."

Keiichi cringed at the figure, which was all of this month's money and then some. Grudgingly, he produced a checkbook and signed away the painfully large quantity of money she had requested, and then went about filling out the apartment contract.

"So, you're moving into Makoto's place?" the girl asked.

Keiichi glanced up and nodded.

"Poor guy," she said, shaking her head.

"Why, what happened to him?"

"Apparently his dad's cancer got worse all of a sudden. He went home because they're not sure whether he's going to make it, and he wanted to be there while his he's in the hospital."

Keiichi blanched. "That's awful."

"Tell me about it," the receptionist replied.

"Get a move on, little boy," said Mara's voice from behind him. "I'd like to be able to get to sleep some time before next week."

Keiichi shook his head sadly and scribbled his signature on the contract. The receptionist, noting Mara's rather forceful prodding, went and got Keiichi his key without making further conversation. He took it, thanking her, and then began the arduous process of lugging two heavy suitcases up the stairs.

Keiichi awoke the following morning feeling pretty sore. Mara had insisted on staying in the apartment's single furnished bedroom, and Keiichi had been forced to spend the night sleeping on the couch, which was too short for even someone of his limited stature to sleep comfortably. A hot bath took care of most of the cramps, but he still had not slept very well, so it was with a certain measure of grogginess that he poured himself a bowl of cold cereal and a cup of coffee and then gathered his textbooks. Mara was still asleep, and he deemed it imprudent to wake her--yesterday had been a long day, especially since she had granted a wish and all; she probably needed her sleep.

He stepped out his door into the hallway just in time to nearly bump into a girl locking the door to the room immediately across from his own. She was slightly taller than him, and she had long, straight brown hair.

"Oh, hi!" she said, turning around upon hearing him come out. "I'm your new neighbor."

Keiichi pulled the door shut behind him. "No kidding! I was about to say the same thing to you. You see, I just moved in here last night."

"Wow, that's great! I just got in yesterday myself."

Her appearance was entirely unremarkable, save for her soft, innocent blue eyes. Her voice was accented slightly, and she appeared to be of European descent.

She was ... familiar, somehow.

Keiichi bowed slightly. "I'm Keiichi Morisato. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Verdandi Asgard," she replied, returning his bow. "The pleasure is mine."

The two of them made idle conversation as they headed downstairs to their classes. Verdandi, he found out, was an exchange student from Norway, living alone in her apartment and studying advanced Japanese at NIT. They spoke until they parted ways for their respective lectures; and somehow, just speaking to her made the stress of the last few days seem to melt away.

If he wasn't already attached to Mara, he might have considered asking her out--but then, what would a nice girl like her want with a guy like him?

Keiichi flopped down on the couch, exhausted. A boring calculus lecture followed by a particularly difficult thermodynamics test had left him feeling drained. He had just taken an idle sip from the can of Coke he had bought on campus, when a knock at the door caught his attention.

Grumbling, he stood up and went over to answer it.

"Megumi?" he asked, blinking in surprise at his sister's unexpected arrival.

"Hi there, Kei!" Megumi, cheerful as always, was carrying a small suitcase of her own, as well as a brown envelope.

He stood aside and ushered her into the apartment. "How'd you find the place?" he asked. "I just got here yesterday."

"I stopped by your old dorm. The guys said you'd moved to Northwood, so I asked about you down at the front desk. The woman down there said there was a girl with you," she added, winking at him conspiratorially.

Keiichi gulped.

"Oh, don't worry, Kei. I won't tell mom and dad."

"Please don't."

"Anyway, the reason I'm here ... you two wouldn't happen to have room for one more, would you?"

"Well, we--"

"There's barely enough room here as it is," Mara interrupted, standing in the bedroom doorway.

"Oh!" Keiichi turned around. "Megumi, this is Mara. Mara, Megumi."

"Nice to meet you, Mara." Megumi inclined her head in greeting.

"Sure, kid."

"Wow, Kei," she whispered, "Mara's really pretty." Kind of a bitch though, she thought to herself.

Keiichi nodded. "Hey, listen Meg. Since you can't room here, you might try the room across the hall. The girl there's an exchange student from Norway, and she's living alone at the moment. She might want a roommate. I'll introduce you to her if you'd like."

"Sounds like a plan."

Mara crossed her arms. "While you're at it, why not introduce me as well? I'm curious about this girl."

"Uh, sure, I'd be glad to."

A few minutes later, once Megumi had gotten a bite to eat after her trip, the three of them went across the hall to Verdandi's apartment. The Norwegian girl answered the door politely, and seemed genuinely pleased to see Keiichi again. Mara edged in closer to Keiichi when the door opened, and put her arm around him almost covetously.

Verdandi, it seemed, was all smiles. "Oh my, what a nice surprise! Come in, all of you. I've got some green tea on the stove, if you'd like."

"That'd be great," Megumi replied. "I'm Kei's sister Megumi, by the way ... and that's his girlfriend, Mara."

Mara was still clinging to Keiichi and wearing a haughty expression on her face, which irritated Megumi for some reason that she couldn't quite place. Verdandi seemed to pay it no mind, though, inviting them to have a seat at the table as she poured their tea. She passed a cup to each of them, and then took a seat herself.

"Wow," said Keiichi, taking a sip from his cup. "This is excellent."

She smiled. "Thank you. I bought the leaves at the little tea shop down the street."

"Midori's?"

Verdandi nodded. "That's the one."

"I like to go there myself every once in a while. If you get a chance, they've got a great Chinese blend you should try."

"But we didn't come here just to make smalltalk," Mara interrupted. "I'd hate to waste too much of your time ... I believe Keiichi and Megumi have a question for you, Verdandi."

"Oh, yeah," said Keiichi. "You mentioned this morning that you weren't living with anybody right now ... and my sister here is looking for a roommate. I know this is asking a lot, so don't agree unless you're really all right with it ... but would you maybe be willing to room with her?"

Verdandi's eyes lit up at this. "That would be great, actually! I'm on kind of a tight budget ... any way I could share expenses with someone would really help me out."

"It's settled, then!" said Mara, clapping her hands together. "Keiichi and I will leave the two of you alone so you can work out the details, and we'll bring Megumi's things over later. C'mon, my darling. Time to go back home."

Leaving her tea mostly full, Mara took hold of Keiichi's arm and tugged insistently. Keiichi looked plaintively at Megumi and Verdandi, shrugging in apology and then draining the remainder of his own tea so as not to be rude and leave a full glass. It was a bit hot, and it burned slightly as it went down.

"Uh, well, I guess we'll see the two of you later. Thanks Verdandi!" He stood up, at Mara's urging, and gave them a quick bow.

"Of course! Feel free to come by any time."

Mara then stepped out of the apartment with Keiichi in tow, and closed the door behind them.

"Um, anyway," said Megumi finally, "I really appreciate this ... how do you want to work this out?"

What's wrong with me?

I still can't remember the trip out here ... in fact, I can't even picture my parents' faces or remember any of my friends from back home. Even the face looking back at me in the mirror seems strange, like I should be someone else. Maybe I'm going crazy or something.

Oh well. Megumi seems nice enough, at least. She seems like someone who would make a good sister for Keiichi. Kind of outspoken, but very good at heart--and she's very protective of her brother.

Keiichi ... where have I seen you before? Your face is more familiar to me than my own, and yet I can't place it for some reason. And Mara. Who are you? You make me uneasy, and I have no idea why. Are you right for Keiichi? Is he happy being with you?

Maybe I just worry too much, but something about this whole thing just isn't right.

Calm down, Verdandi. You're just jet lagged--that's all.


	2. Chapter 2: Days Like This

Goddess in the Mirror

Chapter 2: Days Like This

By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye

Wow. It's been ten days now. Feels like a lot longer than that, though--and I'm not sure that's a good thing. It's just ... Mara can be so mean sometimes. I've never met any divinity before her, but I guess I kind of expected goddesses to be nicer than that.

Who am I to complain, though? Most guys like me never get a chance to be with a woman like her in their entire lives--and here Mara is, willing to stay with me, Keiichi Morisato, for the rest of my life. I can only hope that some day I'll be good enough to make her happy.

Then there's Verdandi. I don't think I've ever met a nicer girl in my whole life. What a contrast. If there's ever anybody who should be a goddess, it's gotta be her. Not based on looks, of course...she's all right, but certainly not a head-turner like Mara is. But her personality. She's so sweet and innocent, and she always knows just what to say.

I can't really place it, but it almost seems like there's something more to her. I kinda get a feeling of Deja Vu when I'm talking to her--like we met in some previous life. Heck, maybe we did. I mean, up until a week ago, I'd never seen a goddess, and wouldn't have believed they even existed. Now, well, anything's possible.

Either way, she makes an excellent roommate for Megumi. They seem to get along really well together. A lot better than Megumi would get along with Mara, that's for sure. Whenever the two of them are in the same room, you can almost feel the tension. I asked Meg about it a couple days ago, but I couldn't get a straight answer out of her, which was strange. Usually she doesn't avoid questions like that.

And then there's Mara and Verdandi. For the life of me, I can't figure out what's going on between those two. I mean, Mara's kinda rude to everybody, but she takes it a step or two farther when Verdandi's around. It's like she's got some kind of grudge or something. And Verdandi doesn't seem like she knows what to make of it. She just kind of takes it, and goes on like nothing's the matter.

Case in point--yesterday, Verdandi invited Mara and I over for dinner. She's a wonderful cook, as I've discovered. Anyway, Mara, Megumi, and I were all sitting down at the table, when Verdandi walked out of the kitchen carrying this tray of--get this--Italian food. I've never really been one to like Italian all that much, but man, when I smelled her cooking, well, count me as converted!

"Wow, that smells great!"

"Oh, thank you Keiichi!" Her smile really does light up a room. I wonder if Mara's does as well. It's hard to tell though, since she seems to spend all her time glowering at everyone. I wish I could do something to make her smile like that.

So anyway, Verdandi passed our plates out. There was some sort of breaded chicken with cheese and tomato sauce, some ravioli, and a really nice salad. She had even put a little piece of parsley at the side of the plate as a garnish. Everything looked so nice I almost felt guilty about eating it.

I think Meg felt the same way I did, but Mara basically turned her nose up at it. She took a bite, and then made a face and started pouring salt and pepper all over it.

I went ahead and tried it myself, expecting the worst after seeing Mara's reaction. All I can say now is that I think she needs to have her taste buds checked.

"This is excellent!" I really meant it, too, but I could tell by the way Verdandi was glancing back and forth between myself and Mara that she didn't believe me.

And then to make things worse, Mara goes and says, "Oh, he's just being tactful."

I looked up at her sharply. Let me just say that Mara's gaze is a difficult one to meet. I saw those eyes boring into me, and I had to look away. I felt so ashamed of myself. I really did like Verdandi's cooking--a lot, actually--but I couldn't tell her that with Mara staring at me.

"Keiichi, when you say things like that to people, you do more harm than good. It's best that someone be honest with Verdandi about her cooking so she'll stop and other people won't have to suffer through it."

Verdandi excused herself after that--her voice was trembling a bit. I could tell she was on the verge of tears. She ran into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. I'm not sure, but I think I could hear her crying from inside.

Megumi was furious. Sometimes I really wish I had my sister's courage. She leaned right over the table and slapped Mara across the face ... and not just a little slap. She did it like she meant it.

Now, Mara looks mad most of the time, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her really ticked off. I could almost imagine little flames burning in her eyes when she wound up and slapped Meg back. It was enough to knock her backwards a bit, and I think it actually drew a little blood from the corner of her mouth. Meg was stunned--and scared too, unless I read her wrong.

Mara looked back and forth between the both of us with a level gaze, and then stood up and walked out the door, leaving us there in the dining room by ourselves. Meg just kind of looked at me, like she didn't know what to think. Verdandi's sobbing from the bathroom finally broke the silence.

"I think I should--" Meg trailed off, looking back over her shoulder at the bathroom.

"Yeah," I replied. "Um, I better go. I'm really sorry about this, Meg. You gonna be all right?"

Megumi picked up her napkin and dabbed another drop of blood away from her mouth. "Yeah ... don't worry about it, Kei. It's not your fault."

I nodded dumbly, thankful that I had a sister like Meg, whom I could count on. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I said, standing up to leave.

"Yeah. Bye Kei."

I waved half-heartedly as I shut the door behind me.

Urd was bored. She sat down in her chair in front of her designated computer terminal, propping her head up with one hand. It wasn't that there was nothing for her to do in Heaven, it was just that her job could become extremely tedious at times. Usually it consisted of watching the log files fill up, correcting any errors in the database as they came along, then repeating the process. After scrolling up and down through her email for what seemed to be the hundredth time, it dawned on her that there was a way she could relieve her boredom. She would go visit her younger sister.

The walk from Urd's post in the Yggdrasil System Administration building to the Goddess Relief Office was not a very long one. Just follow the path under the crystal arches, turn left at the World Tree, and walk straight on until you see a skyscraper built in the metal-and-crystal architectural style of the first millenium, with massive, ornately-carved ebony doors and the words "Goddess Relief Office" in gold script just above them. A casual observer would have been amazed at the sights, but to Urd, it was nothing new.

The four front doors led into a lobby built with gold and white marble. The front desk, an impressive stone affair with famous scenes from various religious texts inlaid in well-polished bronze, was staffed by five eager, young, smiling goddesses in training. A giant crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, bathing the entire room with a soft blue glow. Urd just shook her head; it was ridiculous how far they were willing to go just to impress people.

The actual splendor, however, ended just inside the elevator, where good business sense finally managed to outweigh the desire to overwhelm. The elevator was fast, at least, and shot Urd up seventy-two stories in a matter of seconds without so much as a flinch, using some sort of antigravity field to dampen the effects of the acceleration inside.

The doors slid open to reveal row after row of cubicles, just like one would expect from a modern office building down on Earth. Urd meandered over to Belldandy's office, expecting to find her inside; she was surprised to discover that it was actually vacant. Normally Belldandy was a very neat person, but it struck Urd as odd that all the photos and knick knacks her younger sister had accumulated in her office were missing. After checking through a few drawers and finding them to be empty as well, she came to the conclusion that Bell must have been transferred elsewhere.

Wondering why she had not been informed of this, she proceeded to ask a few workers in nearby cubicles to see if they could shed any light on this situation. Most just shrugged, said they didn't know where her sister had gone, and continued on with their business.

Urd was confused. If there was one thing she didn't like, it was a mystery.

Giving up on that particular line of searching, she headed back to her own cubicle in at the squat, gray Systems Administration building, where she sifted through logs relating to her sister and recent duties. After a brief search, she discovered that Belldandy had been assigned to grant the wish of one 'Keiichi Morisato', but the wish was marked as yet unfulfilled. Strangely enough, Belldandy's current location was not listed, most likely due to yet another bug in the system, which would have to be fixed later. She browsed through the mortal database and found that this Keiichi was a college student who had been living in the Nekomi Institute of Technology's Mens' Dorm. Just recently, however, he had moved out and gone to a small apartment complex called 'Northwood Tower.'

Where Keiichi is, she decided, Belldandy is most likely to be near. It was time she pay them both a surprise visit.

"Delivery!" The postman walked to the front desk and rang the service bell.

The receptionist looked up in annoyance since she was sitting right there reading a book and fanning herself, most obviously in view. She really didn't like that bell, and she guessed that visitors just felt the need to ring it regardless of whether she was sitting there or not. She concluded that this man was a jerk and thought nothing more of it.

"Sign here please," he said, handing her an electronic pad.

She took it and scribbled a few characters in the signature box, then handed the pad back and watched with mild distaste as he walked out the door. The label on the package read 'Morisato'--no first name was given, and the writing looked as if it had been scrawled there hastily. She started to get up to put it in its rightful mailbox, but at that moment Megumi wandered into the building.

"Hey Megumi, I have a package for you!" she said, pointing at her surname on the label.

Megumi gave her a confused look as she accepted the small item.

"Who's it from?" the receptionist asked.

Megumi turned the package over a few times, scanning it for a return address. "I dunno--it doesn't say." She waved it in front of her face, fanning herself in the summer heat. "It sure is hot outside. I think I'm gonna head up to my room and change into something a bit lighter. Catch ya later!"

"Hey Meg," the receptionist called after her, "is everything all right?"

Meg turned around. "Sure--why?"

"You've got a bit of a bruise on your cheek there."

Meg reached up and touched the side of her lip. It still felt a bit tender. "Yeah. Don't worry--it's just a little bump."

She ended the conversation with a quick wave goodbye, and darted up the stairs, leaving the young receptionist alone in the lobby again.

Verdandi glanced up from her homework, hearing the door to their apartment open. She stood and stretched for a moment, then walked out into the living room, only to find that her roommate was nowhere in sight. She was just about to return to her studies, when she noticed that there was a small parcel sitting on the table. Curiously, she picked it up, intending to check the address; the instant she did so, however, she felt something almost like a jolt of electricity running though her body, and she nearly dropped the package in surprise. When the sensation faded a moment later, she checked the label, found her roommate's family name on it, and placed it back on the table. She began to walk away, but then stopped, feeling almost compelled to turn back. It was strange, but she really felt like she needed to know what was inside.

"Megumi, are you here?" Verdandi called out.

Megumi's muffled reply came from behind the closed door of her bedroom. "Yeah, I came up here to change into something a bit cooler. None of these colors match, though ... give me a few minutes and I'll be right out, okay?"

Verdandi looked at the package again, still wondering about it. "Hey Megumi," she ventured, "did this package come in today's mail?"

"You mean that little box? I was wondering about that myself. Go ahead and open it up if you want ... I'll be out in a just a sec."

Again picking up the package, Verdandi tore through the thin brown paper and removed its contents.

"It's a video tape," she said aloud. "It says 'Goddess Productions' on the label."

"Doesn't sound familiar," came Megumi's reply. "Why don't you pop it into the VCR, and I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Okay." Verdandi slid the TV room door open and then closed it behind her, carefully loading the strange tape into their old video cassette player. She flipped on the television, hit play, and then sat back and placed her hands in her lap.

The sultry music and decidedly racy title that issued forth from the TV immediately brought an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.

"Sexy Sister?" she wondered aloud. What kind of pervert would send her and Megumi this sort of tape?

Just as she was reaching for the stop button on the VCR, the title faded to reveal a pair of shapely legs on the screen. The camera then slowly panned upward to their owner's face.

Verdandi stopped for a moment. Something was oddly familiar about the woman on the screen, although she couldn't quite place it. She sat down close to the front of the TV, trying to figure out where she had seen this woman before, when something totally out of the ordinary happened.

A foot popped out of the television set.

Verdandi rubbed her eyes, just to be certain her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. When she looked again, the better part of the woman's calf was also sticking out of the television, accompanied now by her other foot. Backing away quickly to a corner, Verdandi watched, frozen in terror, as the lights flickered and the woman slowly eased her way out of the screen. She was tall and slender, with piercing eyes and wavy, platinum-blonde hair.

As the lights returned to normal, the woman, now fully emerged from the TV set, knelt with her head inclined and her cloak wrapped around her in a position that reminded Verdandi of an old vampire movie she had once seen. Slowly, deliberately, the mysterious woman glanced up at her.

Something appeared to startle the stranger a bit. She stared at Verdandi incredulously, as if sizing her up somehow.

"Bell? Is that you?" she asked finally.

Verdandi screamed.

Seconds later, Megumi burst into the room brandishing a baseball bat.

"Did you hear that?"

Mara looked up from her TV program and glanced at Keiichi, who had been immersed in his schoolwork. "What?"

"I thought I heard a scream ... yeah, I definitely hear something. It sounds like my sister!"

Without waiting for a response, Keiichi bolted out of his apartment and into the hallway, banging on his sister's door. There was definitely some sort of commotion going on within.

Hearing no answer, he tried the doorknob, and was relieved to discover that it was unlocked. Mara, by this time, had strolled out to observe, so she followed him as he ran inside.

The disturbance, as far as he could tell, was coming from the TV room; he bounded in as fast as his legs would allow, and took quick stock of the situation.

"Get out!" Megumi was yelling. "Get out now, or I'll call the police!"

The recipient of Megumi's threats, a tall, slender woman with wavy blonde hair and markings on her face, appeared to be paying Megumi no mind. She was instead concentrating on Verdandi, who was cowering in the far corner of the room.

"Bell," she was saying, "what's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?"

A fraction of a second later, Mara wandered in behind Keiichi.

"Urd!" said Mara, alarmed.

At the sound of her name, the woman looked up sharply to see Mara standing in the doorway. "Mara! What's going on here, and what the hell happened to my sister!"

Mara smiled a dark half-smile. "That's a very good question, hon. But the thing is, I really have no idea. You see, I'm just here on contract with Keiichi here." She placed a hand on Kei's shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly.

"On con--" Megumi started, but never got the chance to finish.

"Quiet, girl!" Mara snapped, silencing Megumi's question. "Now, Urd, I suggest you leave this apartment right now. You're scaring poor little Verdandi here ... and I wouldn't want to have to remove you forcibly--I don't think Verdandi and Megumi could afford to pay the damages on this place."

The woman named Urd was nearly trembling with rage, a hint of burgundy showing through her olive skin. "Mara," she said very quietly, "I don't know what you've done here, but when I find out what it is, I'm going to come looking for you, and personally tear you to shreds."

"Urd, darling," Mara replied, all smiles, "don't make me ask you to leave again."

Urd drew in a deep breath and walked out of the TV room. Keiichi and Megumi poked their heads out into the dining area and watched as she left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

"What just happened here?" asked Megumi, at length.

Mara sighed. "Her name's Urd," she explained. "I met her a long time ago ... she's always been a bit loopy, but lately she's gotten a lot worse. She's a danger to both herself and other people--and in top of that, she's delusional. If you meet her, your best bet is to just get away as soon as possible."

A small whimper from the corner drew their attention back to Verdandi, who was seated against the wall with her knees pulled into her chest, crying. Keiichi immediately went over and knelt down beside her.

"It's all right, Verdandi. She's gone now."

Verdandi looked up at him and gave a small nod.

"She'll be fine, Keiichi. Now let's go home, and let your sister handle it."

Keiichi placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder for a moment, then stood and went back over to Mara. "Hey Meg, gimme a call later tonight so I know everything's okay."

Megumi nodded. "Sure, Kei."

"I guess we'll see you guys later then."

Quietly, Megumi showed them to the door.

"Mara?"

She was too engrossed in applying her make-up to respond, so Keiichi walked over and took a seat on the couch next to her. She turned to look at him, a hint of irritation in her eyes. "What do you want, Keiichi?" she snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Keiichi could tell she was in a bad mood again, but decided to continue regardless. "I just got off the phone with Megumi. She seemed pretty skeptical about it when she told me, but apparently Verdandi told her she saw Urd come into the apartment from inside the TV!"

He gave pause for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Actually, Urd had those markings on her face just like you do. Would that mean Urd is a goddess as well?"

Mara looked shocked for a moment but quickly feigned an expression of indifference. If Urd were to spill the beans now about Mara not being who she said she was, then her little game could very well be over.

"Absolutely ridiculous," she stated, looking away for a moment. "My dear Keiichi," she added, in a voice typically reserved for explaining something to a slow child, "Urd is no more of a Goddess than I am a Demon."

She pursed her lips, peering into her compact's small mirror. "Urd is evil. She lies, cheats, steals, and uses people," She continued on, waving her hand in a chopping motion at intervals while itemizing Urd's bad points, her voice a steady crescendo.

Finally she calmed down, her anger subsiding as she peered at her reflection. She touched her finger just below her eye--her mascara was running slightly--and wiped it off on a handkerchief.

"You shouldn't trust her at all." she said, her voice wavering. Mara looked up, eyes pleading with him to agree with her, "Keiichi, please tell me you'll stay away from her. Please?"

Keiichi was unsure about this sudden change in events. One moment, Mara was going on about an unpleasant subject with her usual gusto, and the next, she was surprisingly small and vulnerable. If Keiichi didn't know better, he would almost say she was about to break down in tears. Tentatively, he reached over and put an arm around her shoulder, nodding reassuringly. She flinched slightly at his touch--surprise, perhaps--but she did not object.

The two of them sat there for a few minutes without speaking, a sniffle from Mara occasionally breaking the silence.

Finally Keiichi spoke, hoping to help Mara stop thinking about Urd; it was obviously causing her great pain. "Ya know, Megumi mentioned that she was going to the beach tomorrow ... she wanted to let us know we're invited to come along too. I thought you might like it. Fun in the sun, leave your worries behind, and all that." He smiled at the thought.

Mara pulled away from him, her eyes hardening. "Is Verdandi going to be there?"

Keiichi grew nervous. He wasn't sure how to answer that one.

Urd could not, for the life of her, figure out what was going on.

Her sister was without memory or identity, that much was clear--and she looked different as well. This difference in her appearance was subtle, but at the same time quite distinct. Gone from her face was the angelic glow that could put to shame goddesses and mortals alike. In its place was the visage of a weak, confused girl, bereft of the charm and magic that had so defined Belldandy's demeanor.

And of course, there was Mara. She was behind it all somehow--anyone with a brain larger than a walnut could figure out that it was no coincidence Mara was living across the hall from Belldandy with the man for whom she was supposed to have granted a wish.

After storming out of Bell's apartment, Urd had shrunk herself down to miniature form and crept back in when Keiichi and Mara left, her idea being to quietly observe her sister and hopefully garner some information about what had been done to her. She discovered soon afterwards that Bell's aura was almost gone--there was only a faint trace there, as if her younger sister had somehow lost faith in her powers. No other forms of magic were present--at least, nothing that Urd was capable of picking out with her limited divination abilities.

Bell eventually recovered from her state of shock with some gentle prodding from Megumi. The young, spunky, dark-haired girl seemed to have a way with people--her cheer was infectious, and as far as Urd could tell, there wasn't a bad bone in her body. She might make a good friend, if there were ever a chance to get to know her better. Belldandy was in good hands, at least.

Soon after Bell recovered, Megumi picked up the phone and dialed Keiichi--her brother, apparently--and gave him a quick report on Bell's welfare. Poor Bell. Megumi didn't believe her about Urd crawling out of the television set; and who would, really? Mortals just don't get to see the supernatural all that frequently, and more often than not, it's passed off as the product of a disturbed mind or, at the very least, an overactive imagination.

From her vantage point between the curtain and the window, Urd listened to Megumi suggesting a trip to the beach tomorrow. She even asked Keiichi to invite Mara along, although it was evident from the sound of her voice that she didn't particularly want to. An agreement was reached, arrangements were made, and then Megumi Morisato hung up the telephone.

Urd waited around for a few more minutes just to be sure that everything was all right, and then switched the television on and slipped through the screen while no one was looking. Tomorrow, she would return and stow away with the four when they went to the beach; it was time she gave Mara a taste of her own medicine.

Keiichi's former dorm mates, contrary to popular belief, are not totally useless and nonproductive people (although sometimes they do manage to come pretty close). Keiichi, despite his recent eviction from his onetime residence, was still owed a few favors by some of the guys at the Nekomi Auto Club. Tonight, he decided, was high time he cash in and get some arrangements made for a pleasant day tomorrow. A few telephone calls and several thousand Yen later, he had managed to land reservations for a day's stay at a small beach house just south of Yokohama.

Mara seemed nonplussed by the whole idea; judging by her reactions to just about everything else, a lack of reaction was favorable. She was oddly quiet that night, her eyes distant, apparently lost in thought; Keiichi could only guess what was on her mind.

Tossing a TV dinner into the microwave, Keiichi finished his homework early that evening so that he could get a good night's sleep. As fun and relaxing as the beach sounded, he somehow knew that tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Taking a bus ride while stowing away in a duffel bag was not Urd's idea of a great time, but it was either Megumi's duffel or Bell's suitcase. The former at least allowed her to poke her head out for some air, although she had to stiffen up and pretend to be a doll whenever someone looked in her direction.

The bus ride lasted about a half hour, and then there was another twenty minutes of jostling around while the group walked to the beach once they had disembarked. By the time Urd's unwitting carriers had checked into their small beach house and the bag had been tossed onto one of the two beds, Urd felt as if she had spent the last two hours inside a sauna during an earthquake. As soon as she was sure no one was looking, she pulled herself out of the bag and sprawled out on the bed to cool off, still in miniature form.

When she had finally cooled to a point where she felt like moving again, she took to the air and found a hiding spot in a potted fern that was hanging from the ceiling. From her perch, she watched the four of them--Mara, Keiichi, Megumi, and her younger sister.

Mara seemed a bit more subdued and introspective than usual, a fact which Urd surmised could be used to her advantage when she put her plan to learn the truth of Belldandy's plight into action.

Keiichi, meanwhile, lay down on the bed closest to the sliding glass door. The view off of the second story balcony was nothing short of breathtaking.

Verdandi slid the door open slowly and took a deep breath of the cool, pleasant ocean air. "Wow, it's just beautiful!" she exclaimed.

Something about the way the morning sun played upon her hair in the breeze caught Keiichi's eye. For a brief moment, it seemed almost as if a different woman had been standing in Verdandi's place. He rubbed his eyes and looked again; it was certainly just Verdandi standing there--a trick of the light, perhaps.

"Keiichi?"

He glanced up at the sound of Mara's voice. She was leaning against the room's small table with her arms crossed, staring impatiently out the window.

"Put your bathing suit on and come meet me on the beach," she stated.

Eyes brightening at the prospect of seeing his slender, beautiful girlfriend in her swimsuit, he immediately grabbed his satchel and went into the bathroom to change.

Keiichi changed quickly and made his way outside, leaving the four ladies to themselves. Urd kept a cautious eye on Mara as they changed, waiting for a moment to present itself. The plan was simple and elegant, really. As soon as the demoness left her things unattended, Urd would swoop in and switch Mara's suntan lotion with a lotion of her own devising, laced with a potent truth serum designed to penetrate the skin and take effect almost instantaneously. It would then be a simple matter of asking her the questions outright. While a Demoness First Class could likely resist any of Urd's none-too-subtle attempts at magic, no goddess, demon, or mortal could defy the power of one of her potions.

When Mara stepped into the restroom for a moment, Urd saw her chance. In the space of half a heartbeat, she leapt down from her roost within the ceiling-hung plant and landed right in the middle of Mara's handbag. Hearing the dull thump, Megumi turned and looked as she adjusted the shoulder strap on her blue one-piece, which had been the uniform for her high school swim team. By that time, though, Urd had scrambled inside Mara's purse and was well out of view; Megumi just shrugged, opened the blinds back up, and let out a contented sigh.

Inside the purse, Urd uttered a quick matter-exchange spell, sending Mara's bottle of lotion to her lab up in heaven, and replacing it with her own. Very slowly, she poked her head up out of the bag and glanced back and forth across the room. Belldandy and Megumi were talking and giggling quietly. She was about to take to the air again and fly back up to her hanging observation post, but just at that moment, she heard the bathroom doorknob turn, and was forced to leap out and scramble underneath the bed before Mara could spot her.

After that, the three of them headed out after Keiichi. Urd, alone in the room, quickly changed into her own swimsuit and assumed her normal form. People on the beach might ogle her in her usual six-foot-tall physique, but all in all, she would blend right into the crowd. On the other hand, if someone were to see her walking around in miniature form, trouble would almost certainly follow.

Summoning a small pair of binoculars, she left the beach house and took an open space along the waterfront that was close enough to see what Mara was doing, but far enough away that being noticed would be unlikely.

"Keiichi, did you do something to my suntan lotion?"

Keiichi turned his head, trying his best to look at her eyes as opposed to the rest of her. She was wearing a bikini made of some kind of flimsy, iridescent black material. "N--no, why?"

She shook her head. "I could have sworn I had a different kind than this. Oh well." With that, she unscrewed the lid of the bottle and moved to pour it out.

"Morisato! What are you doing all the way out here?"

Mara stopped and looked at the source of the voice. A young woman, perhaps twenty-one or so, approached them. She had long, dark hair, and wore a confident--almost haughty--expression on her face. Behind her was a herd of young men, most likely members of her in-crowd. Mara slowly placed the bottle of lotion on the sand and stood up, fixing the newcomer with a hard, level gaze.

"Oh," said the girl after a brief pause, sizing Mara up, "and I see we brought some friends along as well."

When the two of them locked eyes, Keiichi could almost feel an electric charge building up in the air between them.

"Um, Sayoko," Keiichi stammered, "this is Mara. That's Verdandi there, and that's my little sister Megumi. Everybody, this is Sayoko--we know each other from class."

Verdandi and Megumi waved cheerfully, but did not stand.

"A pleasure," said Mara, in a voice that indicated otherwise. The flock of young men in Sayoko's tow eyed her, but gave her her space.

"So," said Sayoko expansively, looking back toward Keiichi. "My friends and I were planning on taking a boat ride a little later. We've got some extra room, if the four of you want to tag along."

Keiichi looked around at the three girls for approval. Megumi and Verdandi nodded enthusiastically.

Mara heaved an exasperated sigh. "Whatever."

"All right then!" said Sayoko, clapping her hands together. "We'll meet you down by the dock in twenty minutes! Don't be late, or else we'll leave without you."

Sayoko and her cohorts turned and left, leaving the four of them in peace once again. Mara, who had been standing the whole time, knelt down to pick up her suntan lotion, only to find that it had been knocked over during the conversation. Cursing quietly to herself, she lay back down on her towel and gazed up into the sky.

Urd's cursing, on the other hand, was neither quiet nor to herself. In fact, it drew a goodly amount of attention from the people around her, who looked uneasily in her direction while at the same time backing off slightly.

Throwing her binoculars down into the sand with disgust, she summoned the small vial of remaining truth serum and regarded it closely. There simply wasn't enough here for another attempt at the suntan lotion plan, and the day would be well over before Urd could finish making more--which left her with one option.

Somehow, she would have to get Mara to drink the serum.

The prospect of a boat ride was something that made Keiichi a bit nervous. Not downright scared, by any means, but rather just extremely cautious as he stepped onto the vessel from the pier.

It was large, he noted, for a privately-owned craft. Its source of propulsion was a pair of impressive outboard motors on the back, probably over a hundred horsepower between the two. The deck itself was hardly expansive, but there was enough room to accommodate Sayoko and her numerous friends quite comfortably.

The young men all made a point of introducing themselves to Megumi, Verdandi, and Mara. The former two blushed shyly in quiet enjoyment of the attention, and the latter seemed to get great delight from teasing and tormenting her admirers.

This troubled Keiichi--hurt him, even--that Mara would flirt with every other guy on the boat; she seemed to be going out of her way to do so, in fact. He was gazing sadly at his girlfriend when the motors started and the boat lurched forward, knocking him slightly off-balance. The light touch of a hand on his back kept him from falling over, however.

Verdandi, thin and unremarkable even in her swimsuit, had been there to catch him.

"Thanks," he said, trying to mask the unhappiness in his voice.

"Of course, Keiichi!" What a pretty smile she had.

He looked back at Mara and let out a sigh. She was busy slinking around a tall, muscular twenty-something, with whom he could never even hope to compete. Deep down, he was hoping that Mara would at least notice his rueful glance, but if she did, she paid it no attention.

Dejectedly, he turned back to Verdandi again. She nodded to him in quiet understanding, unsure of exactly what to say.

Things continued like this for a half hour or so; Keiichi tried to make conversation with the other people on the boat so as to keep his mind off of Mara, but hardly anyone other than Verdandi or his sister took even a passing interest in him. Finally, Keiichi and his quiet little group migrated below-decks, avoiding the ruckus of Sayoko's more boisterous crowd of acquaintances. Even Mara followed them down, although Keiichi guessed that it was in order to make sure he didn't accidentally start enjoying a conversation with someone--like Verdandi, for instance.

The interior of the boat was surprisingly roomy, at least more so than it looked from the outside. It was decorated tastefully with a burgundy patterned plush carpet, dark blue drapery, and varnished oak furniture. It must have all cost a fortune.

At Sayoko's invitation, the four of them took a seat around the small table at the far end of the room. "Can I get you four anything to drink?" she asked, once they had gotten comfortable.

"I'll have a soda water," Mara stated.

Megumi raised her hand "Coke please!"

Verdandi looked at Sayoko thoughtfully. "Do you have iced tea?"

Sayoko nodded. "How 'bout you, Keiichi?"

"I guess I'll have a 7-Up, thanks."

"Soda water. Soda water. Which one's the soda--ah! There it is!" Urd stamped her feet and shivered. Hiding out in a refrigerator while wearing a bathing suit wasn't one of her brightest ideas, but it was the only reliable way to slip the remainder of the truth serum into Mara's drink without being seen. Quickly, she wrenched the bottle cap open with both hands and dumped the remaining few drops inside, then did her best to replace the cap as if it had been unopened.

As the refrigerator door swung open and the light came on, Urd leapt behind a champagne bottle and peeked out while Sayoko took out the drinks her guests had asked for. Once Sayoko finished and closed the door, Urd opened it up again, just a crack, to observe the outcome of her scheme.

"Ya know," said Keiichi, after taking a sip from his tall glass of what was supposed to be 7-Up, "I think this is Mara's soda water."

It had an unfamiliar taste to it; he guessed that it was some sort of fancy flavored seltzer, imported from France or something. He touched his forehead as the room around him blurred slightly, and he felt a mild wave of dizziness overcome him.

"You all right, Kei?" Megumi asked, a look of concern on her face.

Keiichi shook his head, which seemed to help. "Yeah, I think so. Just had a bit of a dizzy spell there." He looked around the room in wonder, eyes sparkling, as if seeing everything for the first time. "Wow, Sayoko, your family must be pretty rich for you to be able to afford a boat like this."

"Well," Sayoko replied after an awkward moment, looking at him strangely, "I guess you could say that."

"Wow," said Keiichi, "that was really rude of me, wasn't it? I dunno why--I mean, I was thinking it, but I have no idea why I just said it, ya know? I didn't mean anything by it at all. Hey Mara, do you want your soda water? It's really good!"

Mara reached for the glass, but stopped, looking around the room suspiciously. "No ... that's all right. You go ahead, Keiichi. I think I'd rather have 7-Up after all."

Inside the refrigerator, a small goddess slapped her forehead.

"Wow," Keiichi continued, looking at his beverage again in excitement. "This stuff is excellent! Are you sure it's not spiked or something, though, 'cause I feel kinda funny. Plus, I can't seem to stop talking, even if I want to. It's so weird!"

Keiichi, by this time, was getting odd looks from his sister, Verdandi, and Sayoko. Mara, on the other hand, remained curiously expressionless as he babbled.

Shifting his focus once again, Keiichi looked over at Verdandi warmly. "Ya know, Verdandi, you have a very pretty smile, and you're really nice, too! I'm glad that we're neighbors."

Verdandi blushed at this, but Keiichi was too busy speaking his mind to notice.

"Mara never smiles like that. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen Mara smile yet. I mean, I've seen her do that little thing where she gives you that sexy kinda look, but I haven't seen her really smile at all." His face became sullen. "I guess maybe I'm not good enough for her," he said to no one in particular. "She's a goddess, after all, and here I am, just this little short little dweeb going to college. It's no wonder I can't make her happy."

He looked up at her sadly. "Mara, I'd really like to be able to make you happy some time. I mean, it's obvious to me that you've had a rough life, otherwise you wouldn't act the way you do. I'd like to make things better for you, but I wish you'd tell me what you want me to do. I'll do whatever I can if it makes you happy. You're so pretty, I'd just--"

Mara stood up, her face bright red. "Urd!"

"--to see you smiling at me, even just once. I'd even--"

"URD!" Mara shouted. "Come out this instant!"

The occupants of the room, with the exception of Mara, were surprised to see Urd step out from behind the alcove that held the refrigerator--there certainly had not been anyone there before. "What is it, Mara?" the platinum-haired goddess asked. "Is he saying some things you're not prepared to deal with?"

"Urd's a demon!" Keiichi exclaimed proudly, looking at Verdandi and Megumi. "That's what Mara told me. That's why she can just pop out of nowhere like that. Megumi, I know you don't believe Verdandi about how Urd came out of the TV set and all, but I do. Urd has magic like that, and she uses it to do mean things to people. Mara told me that one time she--"

Mara, in the meantime, had stood and strode directly over to Urd.

"Urd, sweetie," she said very quietly, below Keiichi's chattering.

"Hm?"

"I know what you were trying to do here--I know that truth serum was for me."

"And if it was?" Urd asked indignantly.

"I don't want you meddling any more, Urd," she answered sweetly. "Your little sister can't defend herself, and you know very well that I would win a battle between the two of us. So," she continued, her tone still saccharine, "unless you want unspeakable things to befall your poor little sister, I suggest you stay out of my business, okay hun?"

Urd breathed in very slowly, barely able to contain her wrath. "I'll find out what's going on somehow, Mara, and when I do, you better run as fast as you can, because I'm not gonna take any prisoners."

Mara patted Urd on the cheek. "That's nice, dear. Now move along. You're scaring the kids."

Scowling with impotent rage, Urd walked past Mara and into the boat's small restroom, shutting the door behind her. The door slowly creaked back open a few seconds later; the strange woman was no longer there.

"I can't believe the nerve of her!"

Urd was still upset by the time she had reached the data center room back up in Heaven. Everything she had done to try to figure out what had happened to her younger sister had gone awry. She had tried several times to sneak into the apartment that Keiichi and Mara inhabited, but with little success. It was strange really. Every time she started to make some headway, some incident had managed to stop her--be it people in the hall, or some obstruction that had fallen on her, or that cat that somehow got out and attacked her. It was as if something was constantly working against her; every step she made forward, she was pushed two steps back.

She started to go over the two previous days in her mind, looking for clues that she could have missed.

"Mara." She said the name as if it were a curse.

What was the demoness doing there? What did she mean when she said that Keiichi had a contract with her?

Suddenly, it clicked. No wonder things weren't working out very well for her on earth. Yes, it would be next to impossible to directly confront that. She would have to be careful--and she would need to discover what set everything into motion in the first place.

"How did you make Belldandy forget herself, Mara?"

She would find out--that much was certain.


	3. Chapter 3: How You Play the Game

Goddess in the Mirror

Chapter 3: How You Play the Game

By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye

I'm not sure exactly how it is I manage to end up in these situations. I mean, one minute I'm just minding my own business, and the next, I suddenly find myself under a heap of new responsibilities. Take this new bike I have to build for the club, for example. A couple days ago, Ootaki came up to me and told me they were going to get me a "very special bike" for the drag race this coming Saturday. Of course, after I agreed to it, I found out that "very special" was just another way of saying "some assembly required." Guess who's gotta do the assembling?

It all started at the Auto Club meeting last week. Tamiya decided he'd enter our club into this big intercollegiate drag racing competition. I probably should have objected when he volunteered me to be the one to race, but I have trouble saying no to people sometimes--especially when everybody's cheering and patting me on the back.

What gets me about this whole thing is the situation with the bike. About ten days before the day of the race, Tamiya and Ootaki show up at my apartment with three big boxes of parts and an instruction manual that weighs about as much as a small boulder. They then politely informed me that I was the lucky soul who got to put the bike together. I tried to object, but then they started going on about how "you're really gettin' us out of a fix here, man," and "thanks a bunch for doin' this, dude--we knew we could count on ya!" Now what's a guy supposed to say to that, really? The club's reputation is riding on my shoulders. I can't just let everybody down.

Skuld wasn't sure which was worse--days where the system needed debugging, or days where it didn't. There was never a happy medium between the two, that much was certain. Either the Yggdrasil System was swarming with bugs, or there wasn't one to be found for miles.

Today was a prime example of the latter case. Skuld had spent most of her morning clicking away at a game of Minesweeper, which gets kind of old if you can consistently clear a full-sized playing board in under half a minute.

Debugging just wasn't a task fit for a genius.

What made it even worse was the fact that her older sister Belldandy, had been out of touch for over a month. She had emailed her other sister Urd to inquire about Bell's whereabouts several days previous, but Urd had yet to reply.

Stifling a yawn, she checked her email yet again, despite the fact that no one ever mailed her anything.

Except this time, someone had.

"Skuld," the note read. "Urd here. Bell's in big trouble. Will be over shortly."

Keiichi Morisato sat down on the floor of his kitchen and buried his head in his hands. In front of him (due to an extraordinary lack of foresight on the part of his sempai) were three massive, oddly-shaped packages, sloppily closed with masking tape. Leaning up against the largest of them was a pair of motorcycle tires, and in front of the whole shebang was a brand new two cylinder Kawasaki motorcycle engine.

There definitely wasn't enough room in the kitchen to put it together. On top of that, even if there was, Mara would almost certainly get angry about it. After giving it a minute's thought, he picked up the telephone and dialed the front desk.

"Front desk. Akiko speaking."

"Hi, this is Keiichi Morisato calling," he said into the phone. "I've got a stupid question for you."

"Oh, you're Megumi's brother, right?"

Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Anyway, what I was wondering is if I could borrow a little space in the building's garage."

"How come?" Her voice sounded skeptical.

"Well, see, I'm a member of the school auto club, and the guys kinda dumped the job of building the bike on me--and there's not enough space to do it up here in my apartment, and even if there was, I wouldn't be able to get a whole bike down two flights of stairs. Anyway, it'll only be for a about week or so."

"Well," said Akiko, "lemme go run and ask my boss. I'll be right back."

"Sure."

Dimly, Keiichi could make out the sound of a conversation taking place on the other end of the line, although he could not tell what was being said. After a few minutes' deliberation, Akiko returned to the telephone. "Mr. Morisato?"

"Yes?"

"Yeah, it's all right for you to build your bike in the garage. Just try not to take up too much space, okay?"

"Oh, of course," he replied. "And thank you."

"My pleasure," she said brightly.

Bidding her a quick goodbye, he set the telephone back up on its hook and surveyed the boxes. They all looked awfully heavy. Figuring it might be best to get worst of the work out of the way on the first trip, he leaned over and picked up the largest of the three boxes, grunting under it's considerable weight. Leaning back slightly to counterbalance the mass of the box, he shuffled sideways up to the entrance of his apartment, propped the package up on one knee, and maneuvered the door open with his free hand.

He turned around and staggered backward out the door, only to be scared almost clean out of his shoes by a small yelp from in the hall behind him.

"Oh!" It was Verdandi; he could tell by the voice. "Oh my! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that. Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine," he grunted. "It's just a bit heavy."

"What's in it?" she asked.

Keiichi, now free of the door, swung around and aimed for the stairwell. "Motorcycle," he squeaked out after taking in a quick breath of air, arms shaking slightly under the weight his ponderous cargo. "Taking it down to the garage. Could you get the door for me?" he asked, motioning toward the door to the stairwell with his head.

Verdandi nodded and did as he had asked. He managed a strained smile at her as he shambled by. "Thanks, Verdandi."

Climbing down the stairs was a long and painstaking process, and when he finally reached the bottom floor, he was unsure of how he had managed it without falling to his doom, or at least dropping the box.

"Wow!" Akiko exclaimed as he stumbled into the lobby, "that looks heavy!"

Keiichi just nodded at her, his face red with exertion; by this time he was so out of breath that he could barely speak.

"Here," she said, coming out from her station behind the desk, "the door to the garage is back this way."

He followed her slowly through a long hallway, at the end of which was a heavy metal door. She held it open for him and stood aside as he passed through. Once he had staggered but a few feet into the garage, he let the box down as quickly as he could without damaging its contents and then sat down on the floor to catch his breath.

"You all right?" Akiko ventured.

"Yeah," he said between gasps, reaching up to wipe off the layer of sweat that had formed on his forehead. "Fine. That was the worst of 'em."

He looked back into the hallway, his attention drawn suddenly to the sound of clinking metal parts. Leaning over to see past Akiko, he could plainly see Verdandi struggling to carry the second box into the garage after him. Despite his fatigue, he stood quickly and ran back into the hallway to help her out.

"Jeez, Verdandi!" he said, getting his arms under the box so as to relieve her of its bulk, "You didn't have to do this."

"You looked," she said, panting heavily, "like you needed ... some help."

"Well, thanks," he replied, again straining under the weight. This package was lighter than the previous one, but not by a large margin.

She followed him into the garage and leaned on the doorway to catch her breath as Keiichi stacked the second box on top of the first. As he looked up, he found that she suddenly looked very pretty, standing there all flushed and breathless. For someone to help him completely out of the blue like that was such a rare thing.

Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced back at him. The two of them stayed like that for several seconds, just gazing at one another, until Keiichi finally broke the silence. "Really, Verdandi. I appreciate it. That box must have been really heavy for you."

"I can help you with the rest if you'd like."

He shook his head. "No, really, Verdandi. It's fine ... this bike is my responsibility. I can take care of it myself." He smiled at her, a soft, kindly smile that made her heart race. "But thanks for offering."

"I'm doing the best I can, Urd! It's just not in there!"

Urd stopped pacing back and forth. This wasn't working at all. She had been collaborating with Skuld in an attempt to figure out what had happened to Belldandy, but their efforts so far had turned up nothing. Standing just behind Skuld's chair, she peered over her raven-haired younger sister's shoulder at the screen.

"So it's not in the wish records either. So, how else then could Belldandy have forgotten who she was?" Urd paused a moment in thought, and then continued. "Skuld, can you bring up a copy of Belldandy's personal file? We might find some answers in there."

Skuld looked at Urd in shock. "You know that's against the rules! We aren't allowed to do that, and if we got caught--" She was interrupted by Urd's glare and hand over her mouth.

"Not so loud, brat!" Urd hissed, "You want to help Belldandy, don't you? Now are you going to be quiet, or are you going to let Bell stay like this?"

Skuld gave her eldest sister an icy glare to show her displeasure, but eventually relented and nodded. As Urd removed her hand, Skuld shifted her focus back to the screen and started typing, trying to hack into the Yggdrasil mainframe.

"If somebody finds out about this..." Skuld's warning trailed off with Urd's shrug.

"But nobody will if you don't tell anyone, so quit your whining and get to work." Urd patted Skuld's head, much to her chagrin.

Once she had settled into the task, it didn't take long for Skuld to gain access to the Immortal Database records. Urd nodded quietly to herself; her little sister was a genius--that much was readily apparent. ... almost worthy of admiration. Now, if she'd just grow up a little bit.

After a few minutes, Skuld's constant tapping on the keyboard came to a dead stop.

"No way." She whispered, looking at the monitor as if she had seen a ghost. She slowly reached down and touched the enter key, but the computer beeped in protest. "This is impossible. Things like this don't happen!"

Urd became curious. "What are you going on about now?"

Skuld turned around to look at her sister, and pointed to a line of red colored text on the screen. "I can't get into Belldandy's file because it's not accessible. If I didn't know better, I'd say someone encrypted it." Shaking her head, she began typing furiously again, a look of hard concentration in her eyes.

"This is impossible! This is a system table--nobody is allowed to make changes to it. Only a few select people can even read the entries."

"Well," Urd replied, "apparently someone did make some changes, because they're sitting right there in front of your face."

"Look, Urd." Skuld was rapidly becoming annoyed. "I know this program inside and out. Even if somebody got in and managed to read Bell's record, there's no way they could make the change. The system keeps the records locked unless it's modifying them itself--and that only takes a few hundredths of a second at a time. It'd be impossible for somebody to time something like that!"

"Skuld," said Urd slowly, "look at the screen and tell me exactly what you see."

"An encrypted record," she answered grudgingly.

"Now, did the Yggdrasil System encrypt that record by itself?"

Skuld shook her head. "I know how the program works. It couldn't have."

"Then," Urd prompted, "that means that somehow ..."

"Someone broke into the system," Skuld finished languidly.

"Now, is there anything you can do to break the encryption?"

Skuld sighed. "I already tried. It's using some kind of non-repeating recursive key."

"A what?"

"A recursive key. They're infinitely long, which makes it impossible to break the encryption." Skuld clenched her fists in frustration while Urd starting pacing again, mulling over what had just been said. A moment later, Urd glanced back at Skuld to see her typing furiously again, a look of determination once more on her face.

"Look, Urd! I found something!" Skuld was pointing proudly at Keiichi Morisato's record, which Urd had already checked her self some time before.

"So what? I already saw this. Belldandy was supposed to grant this guy a wish, but the contract hasn't been initiated yet."

"I know that!" Skuld snapped, "Look further down, though. It says he already has an active wish, even though Bell hasn't granted him one yet! Maybe if you weren't such a big dummy, you'd notice these things the first time around!"

Urd's eye twitched. She wanted give a retort, but she was cut off when Skuld punched a few keys on the keyboard and continued.

Skuld looked back over her shoulder at her elder sibling. "The search on who granted that wish is coming up blank, though ... who do you think could have--"

"Mara," said Urd.

"Keiichi, did you get those boxes out of my living room yet?"

Keiichi looked up from his books on the kitchen table at the sound of Mara's voice coming from the TV room. "Yeah," he called back, "I took them down to the garage a while ago."

Hearing no reply, he assumed she was satisfied, and went back to mulling over the particularly difficult electrical engineering problem that had been baffling him for the better part of the last hour.

It was a simple resistive network. A monkey with an abacus could solve it, given enough time--it was just that the stress and lack of sleep over the past couple days was beginning to wear down on Keiichi's brain. Frustrated to the point that his eyes were hurting, he shut his book and went to the fridge for a can of 7-Up. He had just opened it and was about to tilt it back for a long, refreshing swig, when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hey, Kei!" said his sister's voice. "Ya busy?"

"No," he lied as he opened the door. Megumi was standing out in the hallway, smiling brightly. "So, what's up?" he asked.

"Verdandi tells me the guys from the club brought over the bike you're s'posed to race," Megumi explained. "She said it's not quite assembled yet."

"That's a bit of an understatement."

"Anyway," she continued, "if you want me to help out, I'd like to. Wait 'til Dad hears that I helped build the bike that won you the race!"

Keiichi grimaced. "Oh, that's all I need is more pressure."

"Sorry, Kei," she said, giving him a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Didn't mean to be pushy. I guess you're probably kinda frazzled right now ... but I really would like to help."

Keiichi nodded. "All right. How 'bout I show you the bike, then?"

Stepping out into the hallway, he shut the door behind him and led Meg down the stairwell and into the garage. The bike was in the same state he had left it several hours ago, in that it really wasn't recognizable as a bike just yet. Pieces of the frame were arranged on the floor in the way they were pictured in the instruction book, but he had yet to undertake the daunting task of actually assembling it.

"Well, then," said Megumi, after surveying the work they had ahead of them, "let's get to it!"

Optimism in the face of adversity. It was a trait that Keiichi had somehow lost over the past few weeks. The strange thing about it was that, being with an amazing woman like Mara, he should have been feeling more confident in himself. Somehow, though, it just wasn't working out that way.

Fortunately, though, Megumi had enough optimism for both of them, and she went about happily reading the manual as Keiichi produced more small parts from the boxes and attempted to make some sense of them.

"Hey Keiichi?" Megumi ventured, looking up from her reading as a thought occurred to her. "Are you and Mara happy together?"

Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"Because I think Verdandi kinda--"

"Hi guys!"

Megumi caught her breath quickly as she looked up to see Verdandi walk into the garage from the lobby, carrying a tray. "Oh, hi Verdandi!" Megumi exclaimed, trying her best to sound natural.

"How's the bike coming?"

"Slowly," said Keiichi flatly.

"We'll get it done in time, though," Meg added.

"I thought maybe the two of you would like some tea." Verdandi knelt down on the concrete floor and placed the tray on the ground in front of her.

Keiichi looked up. "Actually, that would hit the spot right about now. Thanks!"

Pausing to pass a cup to Keiichi, she looked up again. "Megumi?"

"Hm?" Megumi set the manual down on the floor. "Yeah, that'd be great."

The three of them sat down for a while, sipping their tea and discussing the events of the day and next weekend's race. All in all, it was the first relaxing moment Keiichi could remember experiencing in quite a while. Their tea break, as well as the associated relaxation, came to an abrupt halt at the sound of yet another voice coming from the doorway.

"Well, I see you didn't bother to invite me to your little tea party." Mara was standing just inside the garage, looking peeved.

"Oh," said Verdandi, "I'm really sorry about that. It's just that Keiichi and Megumi were down here, and I thought they might want a break. Would you like some as well?"

"What, some of that crap you think passes for tea?" she sniffed. "Hardly! I came down here to discuss something important with Keiichi."

Verdandi hung her head wordlessly and set her cup down.

"What's up?" Keiichi asked, pleased at the sudden attention the goddess was giving him.

"It's about the race, dear." Her eyes became hard. "I won't accept a loss from you. I don't want the whole campus knowing I'm shacking up with some kind of loser."

"Well," he stammered, "I'll--I'll try my best."

"If you ever want me to even look at you again, your best damn well better be good enough."

"Mara," said Verdandi quietly, "I think--"

"Did I ask what you think?" Mara snapped.

"I--" Verdandi trailed off, unsure of how to reply.

Satisfied, Mara turned and walked out without another word. Keiichi took a dejected sip from his teacup and sighed.

"This is it," said Urd.

She and Skuld were standing at the base of a set of stairs that ran up to an old, run-down temple.

"This is where we're going to be staying?" Skuld gaped incredulously at the place. The front door was in a state of extreme disrepair, the windows were completely gone, and a part of the roof looked as if it were sagging.

"I used to play out here when I was a kid," explained Urd nostalgically. "Of course, people were here to take care of it back then, so it looked a lot nicer. But anyway, it's a roof above our heads, and it's reasonably close to where Belldandy is living."

Skuld stepped up the stairs and poked her head inside the building. The front hall was a large, empty room with a coat of dust and grime on the floor left by years of neglect. "Ewww, this place is gross!" she cried, her voice echoing off of the bare walls.

Urd sighed. "Quit being such a whiny brat, Skuld! We're doing this for Belldandy's sake, remember?"

"Yeah," she said resignedly. "I know, I know. But I just wish we could stay somewhere a bit cleaner."

Urd stepped inside and set their luggage up against the wall--she had been carrying Skuld's as well as her own. Skuld, meanwhile, explored the rest of the building, a look of distaste in her eyes. There were four bedrooms as well as a small kitchen area, all equally filthy. Shaking her head in disgust, she walked back out into the entry way. She continued on past Urd, who was busy rummaging through her suitcase, and stepped outside. When Urd did not follow, she glanced back over her shoulder. "You coming?"

Urd looked at her strangely. "Coming where?"

"To go save Belldandy. That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"Skuld," Urd said sternly, "come back in here for a minute."

The young, dark-haired goddess did as she was asked, but stared up at her elder sister belligerently--it was obvious from Urd's tone that she was about to receive a lecture.

"Don't you think I want to rush in and save Belldandy as well?"

"Yeah, but--"

"No buts. We're not just up against Mara here, Skuld. Whatever wish Keiichi made, she's got the Infernal Power working on her side now--we can't just barge in there and take Bell back. It simply won't work. And besides, Mara said that if I 'meddled' anymore, she would hurt Belldandy. I can't take the risk that I wouldn't be fast enough to stop her."

Urd was right. The Infernal Power, Skuld knew, was the force that acted to preserve any wish granted by a demoness. If Keiichi's wish were somehow threatened by Bell getting her memory back--which, presumably it was--there would simply be no way around it. Trying to confront the Infernal Power was, in a word, futile.

This having occurred to Skuld, she put her fists on her hips and stared up at Urd angrily. "Well," she demanded, "if we can't do anything, then why are we staying in this icky place, anyway?"

"Because we don't know all the facts yet," said Urd. "You know how wishes work. Maybe we'll eventually stumble upon something that will work to our advantage. For now, though, what we need to do is sit tight, and make sure our sister is okay." Urd looked around at the empty room and sighed. "And we really need to clean this place up. Here," she added, summoning a broom out of thin air and handing it to her little sister.

Skuld pouted, and accepted the broom reluctantly.

"Yo, Morisato!" said a loud voice, from the door to the lobby. "It's great to see you putting some time in for the sake of the club!"

Keiichi and Megumi looked up from their partially completed motorcycle. It had been several days worth of work, but they had somehow managed to stay ahead of schedule; the frame was built and the engine mounted, leaving only the wheels and the steering column yet to be done.

Standing in the entrance of the garage was the massive Tamiya, toting a large box. Beside him stood Ootaki, holding what appeared to be another bike frame, this one somewhat longer than the one they had been working on for the past few days. Keiichi glanced up at them apprehensively, the implications of their appearance suddenly dawning on him.

"Great news, Morisato!" said Tamiya expansively. "We got you a second engine to put on your bike!" He lumbered in and set the box down beside a slightly distressed Keiichi.

"But--"

"You wouldn't believe the trouble we went through to find it!" Tamiya interrupted. "There's no limit on engine displacement, so with this, it will double your horsepower and blow those other guys right off the track!"

Keiichi stared at the other box, a look of abject terror forming on his face. This was really not a good thing to have happen right now.

"B--but--" Keiichi stood up and raised his hand, trying vainly to get a word in edgewise.

"Morisato, this is excellent!" Tamiya exclaimed, cutting him off once again. He leaned down and peered at the motorcycle in front of him, examining the engine. "Wonderful! Beautiful!" Standing straight, he continued. "But with this," He paused theatrically, motioning toward the box, "we're sure to win!"

Keiichi had had enough. "Now wait a minute! Megumi and I have been working on this thing practically non-stop for the past three days, and we're almost finished!" He put his hands on his hips and took a breath. "Besides, a twin engine will be way too heavy, and any extra horsepower we gain might be lost due to vibrations in the frame."

Tamiya grabbed Keiichi with a massive arm and held him to his chest. "But you don't understand what I'm saying!" Tears started to pour dramatically from his eyes. "We're drag racing heroes to our fans; if this engine increases our chances of winning even just one percent, we've got to do it!"

"But it won't..." Keiichi barely mumbled out, his face pressed into Tamiya's jacket.

Tamiya continued, paying scant attention to Keiichi's feeble objections. "This is the spirit that has made our auto club great! Your not going to let us down, are you Morisato?"

"Uh, Tamiya..." said Megumi, placing a hand on the club president's arm, "we get the point."

"Well, then!" he exclaimed, letting a now blue Keiichi drop unceremoniously to the ground. "The race is in three days. You're our man Morisato! We know you can do it!"

Ootaki, meanwhile, set the extra frame down onto the ground and gave the two of them a thumbs up. "Well dudes," he said, turning to follow Tamiya out of the garage, "were countin' on ya!" The heavy metal door closed behind them with a resounding thud, leaving Keiichi and Megumi alone in the garage with their new project.

Hearing a sigh, Megumi looked over at her brother, who was sitting with his legs crossed, examining the blueprints skeptically.

"Uh, Kei," she said quietly, "if you're going to use this twin engine, we've got to come up with some expansion calculations, because there's no way we can trust that new frame those guys brought over."

Keiichi nodded, pointing to a particular section on the blueprint. "This is definitely gonna be a problem. If we're not careful, the stress factor of these two engines will tear the frame apart." He shrugged and hung his head. "I can fix some of this, but there just isn't enough time for me to completely recalculate everything. As it is, we've pretty much gotta rebuild the whole thing from scratch, which'll probably take until the night before the race, if we work our butts off."

Megumi squared her shoulders. "Well, we'll just have to make some educated guesses, and hope for the best."

"I really don't like the sound of that."

"No point getting discouraged," Megumi admonished. "We've got our work cut out for us, and we can't afford to waste time sulking about it."

Keiichi and Megumi finally managed to finish the bike at quarter after three in the morning, on the day of the race; consequently, Keiichi had not slept very well when Tamiya called to wake him up a few hours later.

"Hello?" he mumbled drearily into the telephone.

"Ahh, Morisato!" Keiichi winced at the loud voice at the other end of the line, holding the telephone a few inches away from his ear. "It's the big day! Time to get your lazy butt outta bed and head out to the racetrack!"

Keiichi brushed a lock of hair from his face and glanced owlishly at his alarm clock. "Tamiya, it's six-thirty, for cryin' out loud. The race doesn't start til noon!"

"But that only leaves us five and a half hours to get there and rally the support of our fans! If it increases our chances of winning just one percent, then--"

"--we've got to do it," Keiichi finished lamely. "All right," he continued, stifling a yawn, "I'll meet you at the club pavilion in an hour or so."

"That's the spirit, Morisato!" the voice from the receiver bellowed. "I know you won't let the club down!"

"Bye, Tamiya," Keiichi mumbled, hanging up the telephone. Yawning again, he scratched his nose and pulled himself laboriously to a sitting position. "This is gonna be a long day," he said to no one in particular.

Climbing slowly out of bed, he made his way into the bathroom and took a quick shower, then plodded into the kitchen to make breakfast. He was poking through the refrigerator when he heard a firm knock on the door.

"Who could be here at this hour?" he wondered to himself as he shambled over to answer it.

He opened the door and found himself face-to-face with his sister, who was looking pretty irked. She was dressed in her club racing outfit, and her leather coat was slung over her shoulder. "Did you tell him to call and wake me up?" she grumbled.

Keiichi, still dressed in his bathrobe, shook his head. "No, but lemme guess ... Tamiya. Am I right?" He stood aside, motioning for her to come in.

She nodded, rubbing her eyes blearily, then puffed up her chest and launched into a fairly impressive imitation of their overzealous sempai. "Ahh, Morisato!" she said, in a voice as loud and deep as her vocal cords would allow. "It's time to get your lazy butt outta bed and head down to the racetrack! Today's the big day!"

Keiichi couldn't help but laugh as he shut the door behind his sister. "I was just about to have some breakfast. You want anything?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'll have whatever you do."

There was another knock at the door.

Keiichi looked back over his shoulder at the source of the sound. "Jeez! What is it this morning?" When he opened the door this time, he was surprised to see Verdandi standing out in the hallway holding a tea service, and looking bright as the midday sun.

"Hey, Keiichi! I know you and Megumi were up pretty late last night working on your bike, so when I heard her come over here, I thought maybe the two of you would like some coffee to help you wake up a bit."

Even in his foul mood, it was hard to see that smile and not smile back. "That'd be great, Verdandi," he replied. "Please come in."

He led her inside to the kitchen table, where Megumi had already taken a seat and was digging into a bowl of cold cereal. "You want any?" he asked. The box made a pleasant rustling sound as he shook it.

"Sure, that'd be great!"

Keiichi poured a dish of cereal for her, and another for himself, then took a seat at the table. "Ya know, Verdandi, you really didn't have to get up this early. The race doesn't start for a couple hours yet."

"Well," she said thoughtfully, pouring three cups of coffee and passing them out, "it was the least I could do, especially since the two of you have been working so hard getting that bike put together."

"What the hell is all this racket?" Mara was standing just inside the kitchen, wearing a hastily-donned kimono and looking sourly at them.

"Oh," Keiichi replied, "sorry to wake you. Tamiya called about the race and got us all up ... we'll try to quiet down a bit, though."

Mara sniffed. "It's too late for that now. I'm already up." She walked over to the kitchen counter, taking the box of cereal from the table as she passed. Pouring a bowl for herself, she sat down at the table.

"Would you like a cup of coffee, Mara?" Verdandi asked, already moving to pour her some.

Mara gave a dramatic sigh. "Oh, fine, whatever."

Verdandi handed her the cup, and she took a sip or two and made a face. She then shoveled some cereal into her mouth and took another sip of her coffee, glowering at the three of them all the while.

Once everyone had finished eating and gotten dressed, they made their way out to the race track, and found that was already bustling with activity despite the fact that it was only eight in the morning. Keiichi led them to the obnoxiously-colored Nekomi Auto Club pavilion, where they were greeted by a resounding cheer from the substantial crowd of club members who were already present. The bike, which Keiichi had driven out to their site before he had gone to bed, was up near the inner wall of the tent where he had left it.

"Ahh, Morisato!" Tamiya put a massive arm around Keiichi's shoulder, causing him to groan inwardly. "Look around you at this team spirit! How could we possibly lose with a club like this?"

"I'll tell you how," said a quiet, level voice from the doorway.

"Just who do you think you are?" Tamiya demanded of the newcomer, a tall, thin, well-dressed man with short hair and glasses.

"I," the visitor replied haughtily, "am Toshiyuki Aoshima, the president of the Nekomi Tech Four Wheels Club. And I must say, that is a pretty impressive-looking bike you've got there--if you're into driving junk, anyway. I see you even slapped on an extra engine at the last minute. What a bunch of losers," he added emphatically, shaking his head in mock sympathy.

"Now you listen here, mister!" said Megumi, walking right up to him and making a fist. "We put a lot of effort into--"

"That's enough, Morisato!" Tamiya boomed, striking a dramatic pose. "Members of the Nekomi Tech Auto Club do not boast! They win, with their drive and determination!"

Aoshima smiled condescendingly and patted Tamiya on the back. "That will be decided when we race, will it not?"

"Keiichi," Mara whispered, clamping onto her boyfriend's arm, "remember what I said to you ... if you lose this race and embarrass me, don't expect to ever speak to me again."

Keiichi swallowed, trying the best he could to hide the look of apprehension in his eyes.

Verdandi was nervous, excited, and slightly scared, all at the same time. The roar of activity around the event was a bit more than the quiet girl was used to; she felt somewhat out of place among the scantily-dressed women and the hordes of hooting, hollering guys. She could tell by looking at Keiichi that he too was feeling somewhat apprehensive about the race, but Mara was guarding him like a hawk, seeing to it that no one could get close to him long enough to get a word in.

Once they were sure the bike was fueled and ready to go, the club dispersed for a while to kill the time before the race started. Verdandi, along with Keiichi, Mara, and Megumi, wandered out of the large Nekomi Auto Club tent toward some vendors along the side of the track for a look around. A good many of them were selling food; Keiichi bought himself and the three ladies each a hot dog and soda, which they devoured hungrily.

A select few of the merchants there had decided to capitalize on the event with some more substantial sales--there were two or three small booths selling clothing, mostly brand-name racing gear, and another one with a spirited salesman who was very enthusiastically trying to convince every single passer-by that they absolutely had to purchase some of his jewelry.

Verdandi, modest as she was, was still drawn to the idea of buying jewelry, so she stopped over for a closer look at the man's wares. Mara and Megumi did likewise, obviously of a similar mind, and Keiichi followed them over with a resigned expression on his face.

"Buy me that one," Mara demanded of Keiichi, pointing to one particular ring on display.

Something about the ring she pointed to gave Verdandi a shock. It was almost as if she had seen it before, in some long-forgotten childhood memory.

Keiichi fished nervously through his wallet. "I'm really sorry, Mara, but I don't have enough money for it. I'll make it up to you, though, if--"

"Don't bother," she stated. "I've given up on expecting you to act like a real man."

For a moment, Verdandi felt like it was herself standing in Mara's place. The effect was dizzying, to say the least--like a bad dream. She looked back and forth between Keiichi and Mara. It shouldn't have been like that. That's not what she was supposed to say! That's not even supposed to be her there! Why do I keep feeling like I'm getting Deja Vu? Am I going crazy?

"Verdandi?"

Startled, Verdandi gasped, feeling Megumi's hand touch her arm.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "You looked like you kinda zoned out there for a minute."

Verdandi exhaled shakily. "I--yeah, I think so. I'm sorry."

"Did you feel that?"

Skuld glanced up at Urd, who looked absolutely ridiculous wearing a trench coat, fedora, and dark glasses. "Feel what?"

The elder Norn shook her head, then sidestepped so she could see around a group of racing fans who had moved in and were now blocking her view of Belldandy. "I guess you probably won't be able to feel auras until you get a bit older ... but I think I almost felt Bell's normal aura for a second there."

"What do you think it means?" Skuld asked.

Urd considered. "I honestly don't know."

"Maybe we should go see what they were looking at," the young, dark-haired goddess suggested. "Something over there might have triggered it."

"Good idea ... but wait until they leave. If Mara sees us here, there's bound to be trouble."

Skuld nodded in agreement. Leaning up against the outside of a small gazebo, the two of them watched as the group poked around the booth for a little while, and then moved on. Resolutely, the two goddesses walked up to investigate the matter.

"Why hello, ladies!" exclaimed the young man behind the booth. "You're both looking absolutely marvelous today! Perhaps I can interest you in some of my fine merchandise." He gestured proudly at his glass-covered displays, which held an impressive variety of expensive rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.

Skuld and Urd scrutinized the contents of each display case, trying to find anything that might have triggered some sort of reaction in Bell. Finally, they looked at each other and shrugged silently.

"Have you made up your minds, ladies?"

"We'll come back another time," Urd declared. "Thank you."

Crestfallen, the jeweler followed the two strange foreigners with his gaze as they walked away.

"Did you see anything?" Urd asked quietly.

"No," whispered Skuld. "Did you?"

Urd shook her head. "Not a thing."

"What could it be about a jewelry stand that would have such an effect on Bell?" Skuld mused.

Urd touched her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. Maybe it was just something that someone said, or it could be that she saw something that reminded her of her past. It's hard to say, really."

Skuld looked up at her sister, suddenly angry. "Well what good does that do us?" she snapped. "I want Belldandy back!"

"We'll get her back," Urd replied emphatically. "It's just going to take some time, that's all."

The hours leading up to the race passed slower than Keiichi would have liked; he spent most of the intervening time fretting about problems with the stability of the bike's frame, which he had discovered when he drove it the previous night. They would all be watching him--the judges, the crowd, the club, Ootaki, Tamiya, Megumi, and Verdandi. And Mara. According to her, losing just wasn't an option.

He paced back and forth nervously along the edge of the track as the noon hour approached. His opponent, a serious young man from a nearby community college, paid him little attention and went about checking his bike, an old Honda CBX that had obviously seen better days.

Keiichi had checked and rechecked his own bike several times since his arrival that morning; he eventually decided that further inspections would do him no good, so he had simply walked it out to the track and parked it, ignoring the quips and comments about his hastily-assembled Frankenstein machine coming from the opposing auto club members and their fans.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a woman's voice came up over the loudspeaker and announced that the first race was about to begin. Keiichi swallowed, a swarm of butterflies already gathering in his stomach. Megumi and Verdandi wished him luck, the former with a sisterly hug, and the latter with a smile. Mara did him no such favor, although he hardly expected her to.

Keiichi squared his shoulders and, alone among the hundreds of people present, he approached his bike. Giving it a final once-over just to be sure everything was in order, he slung his leg over it and took a seat. The engines revved eagerly as he turned the ignition key and twisted the throttle, testing it.

"Racers," the announcer's voice echoed, "take your places."

Taking a deep breath, Keiichi slipped his helmet over his head. The roar of the crowd seemed distant and muffled through his headgear, almost like the calm roar of the ocean. He felt strangely relaxed as he glanced back and forth through his darkened visor, a shield between himself and the rest of the world.

Alone.

Alone was good. It was just him, the bike, and the road. That, he could handle.

He focused his eyes on the man with the gun at the far end of the track. He had been taught to watch when the gun fired, because by the time the sound reached him, he would already be at a disadvantage--and races could be won and lost in a few milliseconds. His body tensed, the gun flashed, and he hit the throttle.

He leaned forward, clutching his seat with his legs as he accelerated; it was all he could do to keep his front wheel on the ground. The engines howled, and the wind thundered by his ears like the rumble of an earthquake. As he approached 120kph, the frame began to shake violently. Struggling to keep the bike stable, he cast a quick glance in his side mirror and saw that he was ahead of his opponent by several tenths of a second. Relieved, he eased off on the throttle just slightly so as not to lose control of his machine.

The other bike closed in on him in the last few seconds of the race, but not fast enough to take the victory from Keiichi. He shot past the finish line at over two hundred kilometers per hour, and brought the bike slowly to a halt on the remaining track. Glancing back, he noticed that the scoreboard read 7.928 to 8.016; he had taken the race by just under a tenth of a second--not a lot of leeway, certainly, but a respectable victory nonetheless. The twin engines had afforded him the extra acceleration at the beginning of the race that he had needed to win.

Keiichi removed his helmet and hung it on his handlebars as he drove his motorcycle slowly back down the track.

"And the winner," echoed the voice from the speakers, "is Keiichi Morisato, of the Nekomi Tech Auto Club!"

Wiping the sweat off of his brow, he looked up at the faces of the crowd in the bleachers as the announcer related the details of his victory. Keiichi had won the first round; he and his grotesque, dual-engined monster had earned their respect.

"Hey, nice job, bro! You kicked some ass out there!" Ootaki gave Keiichi a friendly slap on the back as he walked the bike back into the auto club's pavilion. He leaned over and continued quietly. "But just between you and me, dude, I noticed ya hesitated a bit out there. Everything okay with the bike?"

Keiichi sighed, still slightly out of breath from the race. "Not really, no. The frame's shaking so bad I can hardly keep control of it."

"Well, I'll do what I can, okay?"

Keiichi nodded. "Thanks."

As he took a seat in one of the club's numerous wooden folding chairs, Ootaki gathered the rest of the club members around him and began barking orders for adjustments to be made to the frame. Megumi, meanwhile, came in from outside and sat down beside him. "Frame still shaking?"

"Like a jackhammer," he answered. "Even when I was in control of it, I half expected the thing to fall apart right out from under me."

"Well," she said, the look of concern plain on her face, "don't take any crazy risks, all right?"

Keiichi nodded in agreement.

The minutes passed by, and, still seated, Keiichi watched the guys from the club working frantically to install a balancer and a set of rubber bearings on his motorcycle. Mara came and went several times, casting him barely a glance as she cavorted with some of the other guys in the area.

Verdandi and Megumi paid him more attention, and occasionally the hulking Tamiya would stop by to offer words of encouragement. As irritating as he could be sometimes, Keiichi looked up to him as one would an older brother; Tamiya's ardent commendations of his efforts thus far were heartening. Underneath his sempai's tough and often intimidating exterior was the soul of an idealist--someone who could inspire people to action, at least when he wasn't acting like a complete imbecile.

Once the din and ruckus had died down somewhat in anticipation of the semi-finals, Verdandi took a seat beside Keiichi and gave him a warm smile. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Oh, not too bad," he replied, blushing slightly. "A little nervous, I guess."

"There's nothing to worry about, Keiichi. As long as you try your best, there's nothing more anyone can ask of you."

Keiichi let out a sigh. "It'd be nice if Mara thought of it that way."

Verdandi placed her hand on his shoulder and looked straight at him. He could see his own image reflecting back at him from her deep blue eyes, the face of a weak, frightened boy. What chance did someone like him have in a competition like this?

"Keiichi," she said softly, but with an uncharacteristic note of sternness. "It doesn't matter what Mara thinks of you, or anyone else for that matter. What matters is that, no matter how you do, you always believe in yourself. If you do that, then even though you may have some setbacks from time to time, you'll always be a winner."

Keiichi nodded dumbly.

"I believe," she continued, "that you can win this race ... but if that doesn't happen, that won't change a thing about the way I see you."

He looked at her again and swallowed, unsure of what to say. "Thanks," he whispered finally. "I needed to hear someone say that."

"It's the truth," she said.

A woman dressed in a trench coat and a fedora watched the two them from the far corner of the auto club's makeshift clubhouse, a smile slowly appearing on her face.

"The nerve of that guy!" Megumi crossed her arms and looked angrily at the bike belonging to the Nekomi Tech Four Wheels Club.

Akiko, Megumi's recent acquaintance and receptionist from her apartment building, was standing beside her, leaning up against the wall in front of the bleachers. "What guy?" she asked.

"That Aoshima guy. He barges into Nekomi Tech with all his parents' money, and decides to start his own racing club, because apparently we're not good enough for him!" She followed the bike with her eyes as it took its place at the starting line for the first of the two races in the semi-final. In the first race, the same bike--apparently driven by a hired professional--had come in at around seven and a half seconds, beating its opponent by a very wide margin.

Akiko shook her head. "C'mon, Megumi. Would you really want a guy like him in your club anyway?"

"No, I guess not ... but that doesn't make him any less of a jerk!"

"You've got a point there," Akiko conceded.

The loudspeakers screeched for a moment, then shuffled slightly and became silent. "Next up," the announcer's voice blared, "the Waseda University racing team, versus the heavily-favored NIT Four Wheels club. Gentlemen, start your engines!"

The crowd roared, the gun fired, and the two bikes sped off toward the finish line. Megumi watched with feigned disinterest as the Four Wheels Club won its second race by an even wider margin than the first. She withheld her applause as the results were announced.

"Well," Akiko sighed, "looks like they're heading to the finals."

"Great," said Megumi darkly.

Akiko pointed back toward the Auto Club's pavilion at the young man emerging from the tent with his bike. "That's your brother over there, isn't it?"

Megumi nodded.

"Think he'll win?"

"Of course! I helped build the bike, remember?"

Akiko smiled and shook her head, but opted not to reply.

"GO KEIICHI!" Megumi yelled as her brother drove his newly-modified bike up to the starting line.

He must have managed to hear her somehow even through his helmet, because he looked over and gave her a quick thumbs-up.

"Next up, for the second and last round in the semi-finals, the NIT Auto Club, versus the North Yokohama Racing team ... Gentlemen, start your engines!"

Megumi went silent, clasping her hands together as the two drivers revved their engines. If they could just get past this race, they would have a chance to prove themselves against that jerk Aoshima and his hired goon.

The gun fired, and the race began. Keiichi took an early lead over the other bike, but, like last time, his acceleration slowed once he hit a certain speed. Megumi could tell by his position on the bike that he was having difficulty remaining stable.

The whine of the engines dropped suddenly in tone as the bikes sped past their place in the stands; Keiichi was still in the lead, and managed to remain there until just after he crossed the finish line. The final scores flashed up onto the board--7.796 to 7.831. With the modifications to the bike, her brother had managed to squeeze out just a little more speed than in the last race--and it was fortunate he had, because it was only by a few hundredths of a second that he had won.

Megumi breathed a sigh of relief as the announcer read off the times. They were through the semi-finals--all that remained was racing against the Four Wheels Club.

Once again parking his bike inside the club pavilion, Keiichi dismounted and ran his sleeve across his forehead.

"I'll say it again, dude! Nice drivin' out there!" Ootaki gave him his customary slap on the back. "Those mods work out okay for ya?"

"Well," Keiichi replied hesitantly, "they helped a little bit, but the frame's still really shaky. I had to push it harder this time to stay ahead of the other guy."

"I hate to say it, but I don't think there's anything more I could do except tear it down and rebuild the thing from scratch, but that'd take way too long."

Keiichi smiled wanly. "I guess I'll just have to hope it holds out for one more race, then."

"Well, well, well," said the voice of Toshiyuki Aoshima, easily audible over the quiet, apprehensive chatter from the entrance of the tent. "Looks like it's time for the Four Wheels Club to show all of you rejects who the real men are."

The person who confronted him, surprisingly, was none other than Mara. The room went deathly quiet as she approached him, coming to a stop just inches away from his face. She was, Keiichi noted, slightly taller than Aoshima.

"Listen to me, you arrogant, rich little bastard! The NIT Auto Club does not lose. We're going to go out there and make you wish you never started your snotty little Four Wheels Club. I promise you, little boy, you'll be crying like a baby before the sun sets." Her voice became quiet, mirroring the deathly cold fire in her eyes. "Now get the hell out of our tent."

Toshiyuki Aoshima was not one to back down easily--in fact, later on, he would wonder just why he did it. But at that moment, with that woman's eyes boring into him, it was all he could do to make a dignified exit. There was something intangible about the way she looked at him that made him want to run as fast and as far away as he possibly could.

Once the intruder was clear of the tent, she turned her stare on Keiichi. Don't you dare make a fool of me, her eyes said.

For what was probably the hundredth time that day, Keiichi swallowed hard.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

The sound of his own shallow breathing under the helmet pervaded his consciousness. This is it, he told himself. It's all up to me now.

Stretching out the tendons in his hand, he looked to his left over at the Four Wheels Club machine behind the starting line on the other track. The driver was a tall man, that much he could tell, although his facial features were obscured behind the cold, reflective surface of his visor. His bike was a brand new Suzuki--a model Keiichi didn't recognize. Dressed in red and white racing clothes, he was the picture of an experienced professional. Nothing like the young, nervous Keiichi himself, that much was certain.

Win it for your sister. Win it for Verdandi. Win it for the club. And whatever you do, don't embarrass Mara.

Breathe in, breathe out.

When the announcer's voice again came over the loudspeakers, he barely heard it. His response was almost automatic; he turned the ignition key, then brought the bike slowly up to the line, gazing across the grassy median at the other racer. The Four Wheels driver did not look back.

He turned his gaze to the man with the gun.

Breathe in, breathe out. Pay attention. Stay focused.

The signal fired, and Keiichi was already speeding off down the track by the time the sound of it reached him.

Leaning once again into the bike's acceleration, he increased the throttle, all at once calm and frightened. And once again, the bike began to tremble once he hit a hundred and twenty.

Glancing into his rearview mirror for the reassuring image of the opposing driver, he was alarmed to discover that, this time, it was not there. All of a sudden, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his opponent on the other track, beginning to pull ahead of him.

All thought of keeping the bike stable left him at that point. Winning was all that mattered. If you lose, you lose everything.

Keiichi jammed the throttle as high as it would go. The twin inline engines groaned under the load, and his bike began closing the Four Wheels racer's lead. By this time, his own machine was shaking so violently that he was having difficulty holding on to the handle bar grips. Then, from underneath him, a loud clanking sound issued forth from the front engine. Breath catching in his throat, he looked down just in time to see something explode.

There was a bright flash, then weightlessness.

The engine clanking was audible even up in the stands, but by the time Megumi realized what was happening, it had already happened. She watched in horror as Keiichi looked down just in time to see one of the cylinder heads on his front engine shoot off directly into the bike's steering column. At the same time, something else shot out of the engine manifold and clipped the edge of the fuel tank, causing brief but intense explosion and obscuring Keiichi momentarily from view. The front wheel spun away from the bike, while the remaining engine whined and broke free of its mount as the machine tipped over forwards, throwing Keiichi into the air and shattering what remained of the frame.

He sailed through the air like a rag doll, tumbling limply as he hit the ground in the median. The bike, meanwhile, went up in flames, it's torn remnants dispersing all over the track among puddles of burning gasoline. Mara, Verdandi, and Megumi just stared for a few seconds at his inert form, now lying awkwardly between the two tracks, face down.

"Oh my God," Megumi whispered.

The Four Wheels bike crossed the finish line, but no one noticed.

"KEIICHI!" someone screamed. The source of the voice, surprisingly, was Mara; the young woman leapt off of the bleachers as soon as she had recovered from the shock of seeing the accident, breaking into a dead run toward the prone, unmoving Keiichi. Megumi and Verdandi followed soon after her, managing to keep ahead of the crowd of fans and club members that were converging on the field.

When Mara reached him, she turned him by the shoulder so that he was facing up, and then hastily removed his helmet. His clothes were singed and torn in places, and what remained intact, helmet included, was covered with grass stains from rolling along the ground at such a high speed.

Keiichi groaned, having been painfully jostled around. He could feel the fresh air on his face, but it took several moments for the haze from the flash to clear from his eyes. The silhouette of a woman kneeling over him came slowly into view. His ears were ringing, but he could vaguely hear her calling to him frantically. Two others arrived beside her, and he soon found himself staring up into a crowd of blurry figures.

By the time his vision had allowed him to make out their faces, all three women--his sister, Verdandi, and Mara, were kneeling down at his side. "I'm all right," he whispered hoarsely over their worried chatter. "Just a little dizzy."

"Just lie still," said a soothing voice, which he assumed to be Verdandi's.

He lay there staring up into the sky, relieved to be alive.

The crowd--at least those who had remained in their seats--began to chatter worriedly about the state of the fallen driver. The circle of people around him obscured their view; it was impossible to tell exactly what was going on.

The announcer, meanwhile, was trying her best to keep the people calm and collected, although, despite her reassurance, most of the audience was quite shaken up at this turn of events. Their attention rapt, they gazed at the group of people huddled around the crash, straining to see any sort of sign that would give some indication as to the driver's condition.

Finally, one cheer broke out from the inner circle surrounding the driver, and then another, and another. Soon the entire audience was on its feet and roaring at the sight of the boy--who, for all intents and purposes, should have been dead--pulling himself shakily to his feet, with the help of a tall blonde woman and a brunette.

Keiichi was only dimly aware of the crowd's reaction as Mara and Verdandi helped him off of the track. He was sore, scraped and burned in places, and still extremely dizzy.

He looked over at Mara, his eyes focusing on her slowly. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

The goddess was sobbing.

Some time later, Urd, Norn of the Past, and self-declared Cupid of Love, was walking back to the temple with her younger sister Skuld, Norn of the Future, and self-declared genius.

"Think he'll be all right?" Skuld ventured, breaking their uncharacteristic silence.

Urd nodded. "I'd say so, if he got up like that. He'll probably be in the hospital for a day or two, though. Oh, by the way," she added, almost as an afterthought, "I think I know how we can get Bell's memory back."

"What? How?"

Urd shook her head. "You're not gonna like this."

"Anything's better than the way she is now," Skuld replied.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." Urd took in a deep breath and continued. "Bell and Keiichi are in love, Skuld. I don't think they know it yet, but I can see it plain as day."

"What's that got to do with getting Bell's memory back?"

"It's like this ... we can't fight the Infernal Power ourselves. There's no way that, between just the two of us, we'd ever be able to help Bell remember."

"But I thought you said--"

"Let me finish!" she said sternly. "There's someone who can help Belldandy out, even if we can't ... and that someone is Keiichi Morisato."

Skuld looked at her sister skeptically. "But if we can't to it, what's Keiichi gonna be able to do? We're goddesses, and he's just a mortal."

"A mortal to whom Belldandy owes a wish," Urd amended.

"So?"

"Well, it's simple, really. All he has to do is wish for her. The Ultimate Force will supercede the Infernal Power because the wish was more recent, and Bell will get her memory back."

"Um, Urd, just what do you mean by 'wishing for her'?"

"I told you, Skuld. They're in love. You figure it out."

"B--but that means she'll be--"

Urd shook a finger at Skuld. "Remember what you said. Anything's better than the way she is right now ... and I have a suspicion that this may be our only chance. And besides, Keiichi Morisato is a good man--I can see these things."

"Can't he just wish for something else, though?"

Urd shook her head. "No ... If he wished for a car or a computer or something, he might get his wish ... but since having one of those things wouldn't directly conflict with Mara's contract, the Ultimate Force wouldn't take over, and Bell's memory would stay locked away."

Skuld was silent for a long while, considering. Finally, she came to a dead halt, causing Urd to turn around and look at her curiously.

"What are we going back home to the temple for, then?" Skuld demanded. "If that Keiichi person needs to wish for Bell to save her, then we gotta go make him do it!"

Urd smiled knowingly. "You haven't been studying, have you? A wish is something that has to come from the heart, Skuld. If we go over there and tell Keiichi to wish for Belldandy then, sure, he might do it, but he'd be doing it because we told him to, and not because he really meant it. Goddesses can't grant wishes that don't come from the heart."

"So that means we have to wait for him?" Skuld stammered, on the verge of tears.

"I'm afraid so," Urd replied. "The only thing we can do right now, is just keep an eye on her like we've been doing. C'mon," she added, noticing her sister's distress. "Let's head back to the temple. I think there's some ice cream in the freezer."

Together, the youngest and eldest of the Three Sisters made their way back to their makeshift abode, silently contemplating what lay ahead.


	4. Chapter 4: Now I Run from You

Goddess in the Mirror

Chapter 4: Now I Run From You

By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye

The wind outside Keiichi's window ripped through the trees and blew occasional stray bits of paper along the campus' open streets. Students held tightly onto their books as they walked; those who were facing away from the wind had to constantly brush stray locks of hair out of their faces. The sky was overcast, hiding the sun and making the normally pretty view of Nekomi Tech seem oddly uninviting.

But then again, maybe it was just Keiichi.

The race--and the accompanying accident--had been a week ago, but it still hung in the back of his mind like a vaguely remembered nightmare. If he had maybe gone a little easier on the accelerator, or tried harder to keep in control of the bike, or checked the engine one more time, he might have pulled through. But instead, he had lost. And it wasn't just any loss--no, his loss was spectacular. It would be a loss remembered long after the name of the winner was forgotten. Keiichi Morisato had gone down in flames.

An electrical engineering textbook sat on the oak dinner table in front of him, unopened. He simply could not bring himself to concentrate. Funny--after a whole week, one would think he'd be able to start being productive again. It wasn't due to any physical injury, either; the hospital, having held him overnight for observation, had found no serious injuries. Amazingly, he had walked away from the accident with little more than a few bumps and scrapes, along with a bruised hip. His neck still hurt a bit when he turned his head too far to the right, but that was fading quickly, and the pain in his leg when he walked was barely noticeable anymore.

But then, it wasn't his physical health that was preventing him from concentrating. Keiichi Morisato, while a good sport in all respects, had always had a certain amount of trouble with letting people down, even in the face of unreasonable expectations. In truth, he was a hero in the eyes of the Auto Club members; he had given his all, and it showed. He had very nearly beaten a professional driver riding on a brand-new bike--something that had been generally considered to be far out of the Auto Club's league. None of that really mattered, though. Deep down, the men and women of the NIT Auto Club, along with his sister, Verdandi, and Mara, had been hoping for him to take first place--and he had failed them.

Keiichi frowned and bit down on his mechanical pencil. He had been doing that a lot over the past week, and the plastic was beginning to fray under the constant pressure of his incisors. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand, and then opened his textbook with a sigh. Exams were coming up in just a few days. Race or no race, now was not the time to let his grades slip.

His assignment stared up at him, a senseless jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols arranged on the page. He read the problem through once, realized nothing had sunk in, and read it again. It was no use--his mind remained blank.

Dejectedly, Keiichi shut his book and tossed his pencil onto the table. He stood, rubbed his bruised hip, and went to the refrigerator. Nothing inside looked particularly appetizing, so he shut it, then proceeded into the TV room and flopped down on the couch beside Mara, who was watching a soap opera. She glanced in his direction for a moment, but gave no other acknowledgement.

The show she was watching was an overacted daytime drama he hadn't heard of, and it proved to be just about as uninteresting as he expected. Mara seemed into it, though, so he opted not to bother her until the ads.

"Hey Mara?" he said finally, over the voice of an irritatingly cute young woman who was trying to convince him to buy a new blender.

She looked over at him expressionlessly. "What?"

"How's your day been?"

"Fine," she stated.

"I'm still a bit sore myself ... and I haven't really been able to concentrate on anything since the crash. Dunno what the deal is."

"Really."

Keiichi sighed. It was like talking to a wall. Hard to imagine, really, being so lonely while sitting right next to one's own girlfriend. He tilted his head back and sighed, staring up at the room's tiled ceiling.

"Is there something you need?" Mara demanded.

Keiichi shook his head. "I dunno," he replied woodenly. "I just thought maybe we could talk or something."

She regarded him for a moment, her eyes cold but expectant. "Well?" she asked finally.

Keiichi fidgeted. This wasn't going quite how he had hoped. "Um, after the race ... when you guys were helping me off the track ... why ..."

Mara's gaze was unyielding.

"Why were you crying?" he stammered.

Mara appeared taken aback for a second, then her expression softened almost imperceptibly before twisting into a look of fiery rage. "What the hell do you care what I was crying for?" she demanded. "In fact, I don't see where it's any of your damn business in the first place!"

Keiichi blinked. "I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe--"

"Maybe what? Maybe I was harboring some deep feeling of concern for you? Like I'd care about what happened to you after you made a fool out of me in front of all those people? Don't delude yourself, little boy!"

Keiichi stared at her, his expression vacant. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again; instead, he just stood up, grabbed his bag, and walked out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

He had that look on his face that people sometimes get when they're too tired to cry. Megumi's gaze followed her brother as he walked by her in the hallway, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"Keiichi?"

He came to a stop once he had passed, but did not turn to face her. "Yes?"

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Not really, no."

"Do you want to--"

"Not right now," he interrupted, his voice quiet but with a note of finality. That being said, he continued on down the hall and out the door to the stairwell.

Something, Megumi surmised, was troubling her brother. Something had been troubling him for over a week now, and instead of pulling through it like he normally did, he seemed to be getting progressively worse. Concerned, she lifted her hand to knock on Keiichi and Mara's door. Perhaps Keiichi's live-in girlfriend could shed some light on the situation. She hesitated for a moment, considering the very real possibility that the ill-tempered Mara was the problem. Steeling herself and drawing in a breath, she rapped on the door and waited.

"Yes?" A tall, haughty Mara stood in the now open doorway, looking down into Megumi's eyes from several inches above.

Megumi's tone was angry but civil. "May I come in?"

Mara opened the door wordlessly and stepped aside, motioning for Megumi to enter.

Stepping into the living room and removing her shoes, Megumi glanced into the kitchen area and noticed that Keiichi had left his books and papers forgotten on the table, something that was not typical of him. She turned around curtly and frowned at Mara.

"Was there something you wanted?" Mara asked, smirking slightly.

Megumi took a deep breath and closed her eyes, running her hands through her hair.

"I know we haven't seen eye to eye on everything, Mara." Megumi started, choosing her words carefully. "We've had our differences in the past. My brother means a lot to me though..." she trailed off, unsure of how to express her thoughts. "I just saw Keiichi in the hallway and he looked pretty upset. I wanted to know if you knew something about that?"

Mara watched the play of barely contained frustration and anger run across the young girl's face. "Oh, I don't know." Mara said casually, waving dismissively. "He's been spending a lot of time in his room, or outside somewhere. I usually only see him now when we eat, and even then, he doesn't bother telling me about his day."

Megumi's fists tensed. "I know he has been feeling down lately; all of us can see it. It's just that when I saw him now in the hall, he looked like he was ready to cry! I've never seen him like that!"

Mara leaned back and stretched. "And this is my concern because...?"

"Because?" she shot back, "What do you think? You live with him! Because he's my brother, and I can't stand seeing him like this! He's your boyfriend, dammit! Because all he wants right now is for you to approve of him!"

Mara's eyes narrowed as she looked at Megumi. The hard stare she gave--it was too much. Megumi had to look away; she couldn't really help it. "But what if I don't approve of him?"

"What did you say?" It was said very softly, but Mara's ears picked it up. Megumi met the glare and began to give it back at full force.

"You heard me," said Mara. "He'll get my approval when he deserves it."

"How could you ever think to say something like that?" Megumi exclaimed in disbelief. "He's given his all for you, because for some reason, he thinks you're too good for him!" Megumi shot Mara a look of disgust. "You don't deserve him." she said, shaking her head. "Keiichi's never wanted to hurt anybody in his whole life. In fact, I don't think you could ever find a nicer guy anywhere--but do you realize that? No! You just keep him around so you can treat him like dirt and feel good about yourself!"

The look of shock on Mara's face was not lost to Megumi.

"Well, I've got news for you, Mara." she continued, her voice becoming suddenly quieter. "My brother is too good for you."

Mara stood up slowly. "How dare you--"

"You don't deserve him, Mara!" Megumi interrupted.

Mara's face turned red. "Get out," she said, barely above a whisper.

Megumi either didn't hear it, or completely ignored it, however, because she continued on unabated. "You're mean, you're rude, you're lazy, and you take pleasure out of making people feel bad!"

"Get out of my apartment!" Mara roared, startling Megumi enough that so she forgot what she was going to say next.

Megumi stood there in silence for a few moments, attempting to hide the fact that she was trembling slightly. Trying in vain to think of a final retort, she finally gave up, realizing that nothing good was coming to her. "Fine." With that, she turned around and left the apartment without another word.

Verdandi Asgard.

Even my name sounds wrong.

I feel like I'm acting in some sort of improvised play--as if someone said, "you'll be playing Verdandi Asgard today. She's an exchange student from Norway, who will be going to a little school in Japan," and then left me to fill in the details.

And what's worse is that I don't think I'm doing a very good job. This Macro Economics class I'm sitting in right now, for instance--I have no idea why I would have even signed up for it. I don't remember signing up for it, and it holds no interest for me at all. And since my major is still undeclared, there's no reason for me to assume it's a required course. I'm just going through this routine, day after day, pretending I'm someone I'm not.

I just feel so lost. It's like there's nothing I can do except watch my life go by. Every time I try and think back to my past, I just get this big empty space. I can't talk to my parents about it, because I don't remember their phone number--and they haven't called me since I got here. If I could just hear my father's voice, I know it would clear things up--but I can't even remember what he sounds like.

I wish there was somebody I could talk to. I'd try Megumi, but I don't want her to think she's living with a roommate who's crazy or something. And Keiichi ... with what he's going through right now, the last thing he needs, is me burdening him with my problems.

Poor Keiichi. He's been so down lately. I guess maybe he doesn't realize that we all still believe in him. I should tell him so, but even if I did, I don't think he'll listen to me.

I believe in you, Keiichi. I wish I could make you see that.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Skuld whined.

She and her elder sister Urd were seated upon one of Nekomi Tech's many wooden benches, looking out into a courtyard that was centered around a three-level marble fountain.

"As long as it takes, Skuld," Urd replied, adjusting her sunglasses. Urd was the very picture of class that morning, wearing heels and short, form-fitting blue suede dress. She seemed to be drawing a fair amount of attention from both sexes--admiration from the men, and jealousy from the women.

Skuld crossed her arms and let out something that resembled a 'harumph.' The two of them had had this argument before on several occasions. It typically involved Skuld complaining about living down on Earth in an old, abandoned temple, then Urd replying that they had to do it for Belldandy's sake. At that point, Skuld would usually cross her arms and say 'harumph' -- but on this particular occasion, she had simply decided to skip the formalities.

Urd checked her watch. "Ten thirty-six. He's running late today."

"There he is," said Skuld, pointing down a sidewalk leading off to the left side of the courtyard. Keiichi's backpack was slung over one shoulder as he was walking hastily toward the central campus. The expression on his face, at least at that distance, was unreadable.

Urd glanced down at her younger sister. "You brought your radio along, right?"

Skuld unclipped a small walkie-talkie from her belt. "Right here."

"Good. Bell should come by in ..." she paused to look at her wristwatch again, "... twenty-four minutes or so. Contact me once you see her, and then trail her after that."

"I know what to do," she said indignantly. "We've been doing this for a week now. I can understand these things--I'm not a little kid, you know!"

Urd nodded. "Good luck, then." Scanning the area briefly to be sure no one was looking in her direction, Urd waved her arm with a fluid gesture and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Standing, where her full-sized version had been seated before, was the goddess in her miniature form.

She waited, tapping her foot impatiently until Keiichi had passed, then took to the air behind him and latched onto his backpack, making her way inside as discretely as possible. He looked behind him at the sudden noise, but, seeing no one, he shrugged and continued on.

Skuld leaned back on the bench and fidgeted. Twenty minutes was a long time, even for someone as emphatically not a kid as she.

It all tasted the same.

Keiichi bit into the cafeteria-served rice ball and chewed. Nekomi Tech, like most colleges, was not renowned for its wonderful cafeteria cuisine, but today it seemed even more bland than usual. Seated at his own empty table, he was surrounded by the quiet din of conversation from all sides. None of the other people in the cafeteria were paying him any attention--it occurred to him then, that, had he never been born, it would change very little, if anything, about these peoples' lives.

"Morisato!" said a deep, energetic voice.

Keiichi winced at the sound of his name. His sempai and club-mate, Tamiya, had just entered the cafeteria, and was waving to him enthusiastically. He raised a hand in acknowledgement--more out of an ingrained reaction than any desire to be polite.

Oblivious to the pained expression on Keiichi's face, the hulking Tamiya approached him and took a seat, giving him a rough slap on the back that nearly caused him to spit out the soda he was drinking.

"So, Morisato, how's it going?"

He's being too friendly. I bet he's gonna try and sucker me into something, like he always does.

Keiichi sighed. "Fine."

"So, uh, think you're ready for exams yet?"

Keiichi took another bite from his lunch and shook his head. "Not really. Is there something you need?"

"Well, uh, I just thought maybe ya could use a little cheerin' up."

Keiichi propped his head up on his arm and poked absent-mindedly at his food. "That obvious, huh?"

"You know me, Morisato," said Tamiya, scratching his head. "I dunno too much about people, so if I see it, it's gotta be obvious."

Keiichi did not reply.

"Anyway," he continued, "me an' the guys are havin' a karaoke party tonight. It might help take yer mind offa things."

Keiichi groaned inwardly. The last thing he needed right now was to have his eardrums pummeled by the voices of twenty drunken morons trying to sing 'Hotel California.'

"Well, I don't know," he said slowly. "I mean, I'm pretty tired, and I've got some finals to study for tonight. But thanks for asking me."

Turning away from his sempai, he went back to the task of picking languidly at his food and pretending no one else was around.

"Oh, one other thing," said Tamiya.

Keiichi glanced up, irritated at his lonely little world was still being invaded.

"I know ya prolly don't wanna hear this right now, but, about the race..."

Keiichi glowered at his perceived tormentor. "Yeah, I know. I screwed up. What about it?"

"See, that's the thing. Ya keep thinkin' it's your fault. Fact is, I gotta apologize. Me an' Ootaki, I think we expected a bit too much from ya. Pushed a bit too hard, ya know?"

Keiichi looked down at the table and shook his head. "No ... you guys depended on me, and I couldn't come through. It's my fault."

"But, see, that's where yer wrong. Ya did come through! Ya gave it yer best shot. We all know it! An' even after you crashed and yer bike blew up, ya got up an' walked off the track. Yer a drag racing hero, just like we said ya'd be! An' anyway, outta eight teams, second's a helluva showing, 'specially since the team that came in first had a pro at the wheel."

"I guess," he replied, making no effort to even sound convinced.

"Anyways," Tamiya continued, "I gotta head off to class now. I'll catch ya later."

With that, he stood up, gave Keiichi another slap on the back--causing him to nearly choke on his food--and strode out of the cafeteria.

Once again comfortably alone, Keiichi went back to brooding and eating his lunch, only to be interrupted a few seconds later by the sound of a tray being set down across from him.

What is this? Tag-team Keiichi bothering?

"Whassup, Kei?"

And again, he looked up, this time to be confronted by the maddeningly cheerful face of his younger sister. "Not a lot," he mumbled.

Megumi opened her Pepsi and took a long sip. "You still look kinda down," she observed.

"Funny ... Tamiya said the same thing. Hey, Megumi?"

"Hm?" she said, munching on a piece of celery.

"Did I let everyone down at the race?"

Megumi swallowed and set the remainder of her celery stick down on her plate. "No! No, of course not! And besides, it was just a race, Kei. There'll be others."

"Everybody ... you, Verdandi, Mara, the club, all those people. Everybody was counting on me."

Megumi looked up at her brother speculatively. "But that's really not what the problem is, though, is it? I've seen you lose races before, and you've never taken it like this. You've always stood up, brushed yourself off, and tried again."

Keiichi absently took another bite from his lunch. "Hm."

"Oh," said Megumi, scratching the back of her neck, "I talked to Mara earlier."

"... you did?"

Megumi nodded. "Yeah. It was, um, kind of an argument, actually."

Keiichi winced. "What happened?" He wasn't really sure if he even wanted to know.

Megumi hung her head sheepishly.

"Oh man. You know how she can get sometimes, Megumi."

His sister nodded. "Yeah. And that's what we were arguing about, actually. You're too good for her, Kei. She doesn't deserve to be with a guy like you, and she doesn't treat you right!"

"Wait a sec. Did you actually say that stuff to her?"

Megumi fidgeted. "In more words, yeah. Then she kinda kicked me out of the apartment."

He looked at her in angry disbelief. "You mean you just stormed in and told her off?"

"I had to stand up for you!"

"Megumi, that's my girlfriend you're talking to!"

"Now hold on here!" she objected. "You're my brother! Girlfriend or not, she has no right to treat you the way she does! I mean, look at you--you're miserable!"

"I'm miserable because I lost the race! She has a right to feel like that, because I let her down."

"No! She pushed you, Keiichi! Too hard! If she hadn't been so--"

"Who are you to just jump into my business, anyway?" he interrupted. "What the hell are people gonna think about a guy who's gotta fall back on his little sister to defend him? I don't need you to take care of me!"

"I just wanted to help," she stammered.

"Did you even think to ask me first? Or were you so eager to run off and insult Mara that it didn't even occur to you that you'd be screwing up my life? Here I am, trying to patch things up with her, and who knows how far you've just set us back!"

Megumi slammed her fists down on the table, rattling both trays and causing Keiichi to start visibly. Several people at the surrounding tables were already looking in their direction, but neither of them took any notice.

"She's the one in the wrong here," Megumi said quietly. "And I'm going to stick up for you, whether you want me to or not. Why? Because you're my big brother, and despite the fact that you're being a complete ass right now, I still think you're a better person than this."

Megumi stood, picking up her tray.

"Fine," said Keiichi, as she turned to leave. "Do whatever the hell you want."

Megumi closed her eyes and breathed slowly, then walked away without looking back.

Keiichi stared at his food for some time afterwards. Stress, anger, frustration, and guilt having dulled what little was left of his appetite, he finally decided that the remaining half of his lunch simply wasn't worth eating. Dejectedly, he stood up, dumped the disposable portion of his meal into the garbage, tossed his tray onto the stack of used ones by the kitchen, and headed out the door to sulk elsewhere.

Elsewhere, in this case, happened to be the little brick courtyard just outside the cafeteria. The wind and the bubbling sound of the water fountain at the center of the enclosure provided a steady, soothing white noise that helped him drift off and take his mind off of his life. Taking a seat on a nearby bench, he watched passing students and leaves blowing by, his mind on nothing at all. This bench, along with the small park it rested in, provided him solace--an escape from a life over which he no longer exerted any kind of control.

He imagined himself as one of the stray leaves being whipped along the ground by the wind, torn from its tree before its time, being blown along whatever path the gale decided to carry it.

For a brief moment, a small ray of sun pierced through the cloud cover in the distance, catching his eye.

"Keiichi?" said a soft voice.

Startled, he looked up and saw Verdandi standing next to his seat. He had not heard her approach.

"May I sit down?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure."

You look depressed. He knew she was going to say it--after all, that's what everybody else had been telling him lately. Letting out a sigh, he prepared himself for the same conversation he had already sat through twice today.

It never came.

"Would you like a cookie?" she asked, producing a paper bag from her backpack. "They're chocolate almond. I made them earlier this morning ... they may still be warm, so be careful not to burn yourself."

She opened the bag and held it out for him. The sweet aroma that issued forth was almost overwhelming. "Yeah, thanks," he whispered.

For some reason he couldn't fathom, he suddenly felt as if he were going to cry. He reached into the bag and took a cookie. It was warm--wonderfully so. Bringing it to his mouth slowly, he bit into it, savoring its sweet taste.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" she asked.

He looked around at the overcast sky, feeling the force of the cool wind on his face. He glanced at her with a sad inquisitiveness--he had never known her to be sarcastic before, so he was unsure of what to make of her remark.

She smiled at him. "Sometimes, people think that just because it's cloudy means that it's not a nice day," she explained. "But if you look around, there are a lot of very pretty things to see, even if there are clouds in the sky. I mean, look at that fountain over there. Isn't it almost magical the way the wind lifts up that cloud of mist from it? And those flowers over there--they're still blooming even though the sun isn't out."

Keiichi sniffed, a tear streaming down his face, blown at an angle by the wind. He took another bite of his cookie and looked away from her, wiping his cheek off quickly with his sleeve.

Cautiously, she reached over and touched his arm. "What is it, Keiichi? Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

Keiichi hung his head and wiped his eyes again. He sat there for several seconds before he finally looked up at the fountain.

"I'm really making a mess out of my life," he said softly. "Tamiya and Megumi both tried to help out, but I didn't listen to either of them. In fact, I was mean to my little sister--I can't remember the last time I said anything so mean to her before then. I don't know what to do anymore."

Finishing his cookie, he shakily reached over and placed his hand over hers and squeezed gently, his desire to be comforted superceding his usual apprehension around the opposite sex.

"We're all still here for you, Keiichi," she said. "I'm sure your sister and Tamiya understand what you're going though. We believe in you, Keiichi," she added emphatically, squeezing his hand back.

Unable to fight the tears any longer, he shut his eyes tightly and allowed them to flow freely down his face. He choked at intervals, biting his lip so as to remain quiet and not draw an excess amount of attention from passers-by.

"Verdandi--" he said between stifled sobs, "sometimes--sometimes I wish--"

Something hit Verdandi. It was almost as if, for a brief moment when he spoke those words, she was someone else. She wanted--she needed with all of her being--to know what he wished.

"What, Keiichi?" she pressed. "What do you wish?"

Keiichi shook his head and looked down at his lap, finally bringing his sobs under control. With his sleeve, he again wiped the tears from his face. "It's not important," he replied, without looking up. "But thank you, Verdandi. Thanks for being here for me. You've helped me more than you could know."

Urd, seated on a tree branch beside Skuld, shook her head to clear the dazzling effects of Bell's full aura from her mind, and then slapped her forehead. "No! No, you fool! It is important! Say it! Make your wish!"

It wasn't until a few seconds later that she noticed Skuld was still sitting there beside her in a state of shock. "What was that?" Skuld whispered.

"That," Urd replied, "was a Wishflare. It's what happens to a goddess' aura when someone is about to make a wish."

"Her divine aura?" Skuld asked incredulously. "But I thought she couldn't have that until she got her powers back."

"Technically, she shouldn't," explained Urd. "What it means is that, for a second, she almost broke through."

"Why? How?"

"If you were a bit quieter, you would have heard Keiichi when he just about made a wish. That's what set it off--I'm certain of it."

"But why didn't he finish?" Skuld insisted.

Urd shook her head. "Who knows ... he's not a really confident guy, Skuld. My guess is that he didn't have the guts."

"But what if--"

"Shush! They're talking again!"

Keiichi stood up and spoke quietly, managing a half-smile for Bell, as he turned to leave. She watched him as he walked away, a look of concern becoming evident upon her face.

Urd made a fist. "Damn!"

"Urd, he's getting away! Do something!"

"Like what, Skuld? I can't just run over there and shove them together."

Skuld sniffed. "Well, we've gotta do something, or else they're just gonna keep up like this!"

Urd tapped her fingers on one of the bush's branches, considering. Finally, she let out a sigh and flipped her hair back with one hand. "All right. This is against my better judgment, but you may be right ... and I think I've got a plan that might work."

"What? Tell me, tell me!"

Urd rolled her eyes. "Why don't we call it a day, Skuld? I've got one more thing I need to do--in the mean time, head back to the temple, all right? I'll meet you there in a little while and explain it all to you. Besides, I'm sure Bell can take care of herself for a few hours."

Mara sat on the couch in a daze. Her breath was coming in shaky gasps, and her face was covered with a layer of cold sweat. The television show she had been watching was now just gibbering noise in her ear. She swallowed and rubbed her forehead, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to relax.

Belldandy.

Something had happened with Belldandy. It was Belldandy's aura that had just hit her--she'd know the feeling anywhere. It was one thing for a goddess to get hit by another's aura, but it was quite another for a demon. In most cases, it was a mildly uncomfortable sensation, but on this occasion, Mara felt as if she had been hit on the back of her head with a two-by-four.

Fighting for clarity against a bout of dizziness and tunnel vision, Mara brought herself to an unsteady stand and stumbled toward the telephone.

In her state of incoherence, it took her a moment to remember the number to Hell's switchboard, and then took her a few more seconds to actually punch in the correct numbers, as she was having a certain amount of difficulty convincing her fingers to go where she wanted them to. When she finally did manage to do so, she slid down the wall and sank to the floor, nursing a pounding headache and breathing shallowly as she held the ringing receiver to her ear.

"Thank you for calling Hell," said the operator in a cheerfully malicious voice. "How can I be of assistance?"

Mara struggled to catch her breath. "I need--" she started, her voice slurring. "I need to speak with Xgg ... Xgg-ph ..."

"Ma'am?"

"Zigsphen," Mara finished, falling back on the usual but incorrect pronunciation of the imp's name.

"One moment, please."

Hell and Earth are dissimilar in many ways, but there are several things that are common to both. Two such things are being placed on hold, and the ensuing elevator music. These things failed to do wonders for her headache; it was Hell after all.

"Come on," Mara mumbled impatiently. "Pick up the phone, you damnable little imp!"

"X'ggh'zphn here," said the imp's voice, after a maddeningly long time spent listening to a watered-down soft synth remix of some irritating American pop song.

Mara exhaled slowly, trying to gather her bearings. The initial shock had faded, leaving her with what felt like the worst hangover she had ever experienced. "This is Mara," she said hoarsely into the telephone. "Where the hell have you been for the past ten minutes?"

"I'm the best hacker there is, Lady Mara. If you think for a second that you're the only person with work for me to do, you're deluding yourself."

"Don't mouth off to me, imp," she replied, her voice cracking slightly.

"My lady sounds distraught."

"Cut the crap, Xig, before I come down there and rearrange your anatomy."

She could make out the sound of a dramatic sigh at the other end of the line. "Alrighty," said the imp's voice, "if you didn't call to play, then what's on your mind?"

"I need you to run a check and see if my contract with Keiichi is still in effect."

Xig went quiet for a moment, the sound of keys clicking barely audible over the background noise from the phone. "All right, got it," he said finally. "And yeah, it looks like you're still valid. Aren't you supposed to be able to feel that sort of thing, though?"

Twitching slightly, she wiped a sweaty clump of hair our of her eyes. "Supposed to, yeah--but I'd like to see you try it after you've just been knocked on your ass by a wishflare."

"A wishflare?"

"From Belldandy." Mara replied.

"Belldandy? Are you certain of that?"

"I grew up with her, Xig. I'd know her aura anywhere."

"All right, if you say so ... let me check something." More sounds of keys tapping. "Says here Morisato still hasn't made his wish."

"Well, he almost did, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here feeling like I've just been hit by a bus."

Xig considered. "So, what is it you want me to do?"

Mara massaged her temple with two fingers. "I dunno. They're getting too friendly, though--I need them separated a bit, while still keeping them close enough together that they both suffer. I can't have Keiichi getting too attached to her either, but--" she trailed off, trying to concentrate dispite her headache.

"Have you considered using one of those Invisible Fence things that give dogs electric shocks whenever they leave their owner's yard?"

"Ya know, maybe my headache is making me hallucinate, but I could have sworn I just told you to CUT THE CRAP!"

The imp's defeated sigh could be heard in the phone receiver, but Mara was too busy clutching her head in pain from the yell to notice it.

"Well," Xig offered, "why don't you gimme a little background info, and I'll see what I can come up with ... and I hope you realize I'm just doing this 'cause you got your brain fried."

"You should already have the background info. You hacked the files, after all. Don't tell me you even didn't bother to look."

"Why would I look?" the imp asked with exaggerated incredulity.

"Why not?" Mara retorted, a little angry.

"You asked for the files, and I sent them to you. I've got better things to do than poke through some little goddess' file. Never anything interesting in 'em--not like the ones I get from down here, at least."

"Fine," she said at length, changing the phone to the other ear. "Just as well, anyway. See, as it turns out, Keiichi is what you would call special."

"We're all special, Mara." Xig deadpanned, "Each of us is unique, in our own way."

Mara's eyes narrowed as she gripped the phone. "I'm warning you, Imp." She said in a low tone, "None of your wisecracks, got it?"

Xig grunted in the affirmative.

"Anyway," Mara began again, "Belldandy snuck down to earth when she was eleven or so, and for whatever reason, Keiichi was able to see her when he shouldn't have."

"So you're saying they met up as kids?"

"I just said that, didn't I?" She snapped. "Not to bore you with details, but Keiichi and Belldandy managed to fall in love during their short stay together. Now, she wasn't supposed to be on Earth in the first place ... and apparently, Bell made some sort of promise to Keiichi while she was there--it wasn't anything big, really--just that she'd come back and meet him the next day, or something." Mara shifted her position on the floor to get more comfortable. "Anyway, I dunno if you're familiar with how these things work up in Heaven, but their rules are a bit stricter than ours. When a goddess makes a promise, it's considered a binding contract, and, since Belldandy was still in training, any contract she made was a breach of regulations. When she was found out, they forced her to come home." She paused in thought for a moment, remembering what the files had said. "Thing is, Keiichi doesn't know about any of this. Before she left, they made her seal up his memories of their time together." Mara began to smirk. "If only they knew."

"How delightfully ironic." Xig replied, not interested in the least.

"Nevermind that," she said hotly. "So, what if we somehow got it to where Keiichi doesn't want to be around Belldandy? Would that be possible?" She smiled and sat up straight as everything finally clicked. "That's it! Keiichi's got all those conveniently supressed memories ... How difficult would it be to 'tweak' them a little?"

"How do you mean?" Xig replied hesitently, shortly after.

"Well, Keiichi still subconsciously remembers the Belldandy from his childhood at some level, even with the memory seal. If we were to make those memories, say, unpleasant..."

The sound of keys tapping over the phone could be heard again. "Yeah, that's doable," he said finally, "but I've gotta warn you, you're flirting with disaster."

"Well, I don't have much of a choice here, do I? I need this one done, Xig."

"All right. I just need to tell you, though--memories are easy enough to lock, but actually altering of them is pretty unstable. It involves subliminal pointers, and a lot of other spaghetti code that just won't hold up under stress. It's like keeping your computer running after it's blue-screened." Xig eventually commented. "Sooner or later, it's gonna crash."

Mara wiped some imaginary lint off of her dress. "I'll take the risk."

"I figured you'd say that. Whaddya want me to do?"

Her headache already leaving her, Mara stood up and stretched. "You're a fairly talented denizen of hell, Xig ... Be creative. Use some artistic lisence. Have fun with it."

"Will do, Lady Mara. Before I go, though ... one last suggestion for you. He might warm up to you a bit if you were to lay on your wily charms."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ya know, be nice to him."

"Not likely."

"Wow, Mara," said Xig in feigned amazement, "since when have you had a problem with giving somebody a little false affection? Ohhhh," he continued, "I see! You're worried it might be real affection!"

"Xig," she said, her voice deathly quiet, "what are you suggesting?'

"Oh, nothing," he quipped. "Nothing at all!"

Xig was cackling incesantly when Mara hung up the phone.

Hands thrust in his pockets and expression downcast, Keiichi wandered, melancholy and introspective, back toward his apartment complex. His conversation with Verdandi had helped him put things into perspective somewhat; though his dejection remained--one can hardly hope to banish that sort of feeling on a whim--the pervading sense of hopelessness was gone.

He didn't mind the sensation of the late afternoon drizzle against his face. In fact, it was almost pleasant in a way. He took his time, watching as students bustled along hurriedly on either side of him, eager to get inside and out of the rain.

"Keiichi?"

A vaguely familiar woman's voice caught his attention as he rounded a corner beside a small grove of trees. The source of the voice, he noted with a certain amount of surprise, was the tall, beautiful, olive-skinned woman with silver hair, whom he knew to be named Urd. She was wearing a brown trench coat over a dark blue party dress, and her hair was combed over to the right, bouncing and waving playfully in the wind. He backed up half a step, recalling the unpleasantness of his two previous encounters with her, as well as her numerous bad points, as recounted by Mara.

He eyed her warily. "Urd."

She smiled at him in a way that reminded him somewhat of Verdandi. "You look as if you don't trust me."

"Well..." he started, his manners kicking in.

She laughed. It was a deep, fond laugh that lacked the qualities one would expect in a demoness. "I understand. We haven't exactly met on good terms ... and I can't imagine the things Mara may have said about me were very flattering, either."

"Aren't you supposed to be a demoness?" he asked hesitantly.

She ran a hand through her hair. "Well, there's some truth to that, but no, not really."

He looked at her inquisitively.

"I'm actually half demon--by blood at least. By career, though, I'm a goddess." Reaching into her inner coat pocket, she produced a business card, which she handed to him.

Urd, Norn of the Past, it read. Second Class, Limited License. System Administrator, Goddess Relief Office.

"Goddesses have business cards?"

"And what's so odd about that?" she asked, placing a hand on her pleasantly curved hip.

"It's just--I dunno. Business cards seem so ... mundane."

Urd grinned wryly. "System administration isn't much more exciting up in Heaven than it is down here, I'm afraid. There's just a lot more riding on it. Anyway, not to be led too far astray from the subject at hand ... I hear you've been having kind of a rough time of it, lately."

Keiichi rolled his eyes. "So now people are literally falling out of the sky to remind me I'm depressed. Ya know, if you guys would just make it into a tape recording and then force me to listen to it over and over again, you'd save yourselves a lot of effort."

"Actually," she said, raising a finger, "I'm here to help you with your problem."

"And that would be?"

She smiled knowingly; she seemed to have quite a number of different smiles, all equally expressive. "I think, deep down, we both know what the answer to that question is."

The race? His self-confidence? Exams? Money? Keiichi shook his head. "I've got a lot of problems."

She ignored his implied question. "Well, I've got a solution for you, if you're willing to hear me out."

Keiichi shrugged. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

"Walk with me," she said, approaching him and placing a hand on his back.

Normally, such proximity to a stunningly beautiful woman would have scared him, or at least given him pause; in this case, though, he was feeling too drained to care either way. The two of them--a short, unremarkable Japanese college student, and a beautiful European woman--were something of an odd couple as they wandered down the sidewalk into the late afternoon wind.

"I want you to think back and tell me something," she said at length, brushing back a strand of hair that had blown into her eyes. "How long has it been since you were last happy? I mean, not for a minute or two, but deeply happy--with your life, and things in general."

Keiichi looked up into the cloudy sky and thought about that. "I guess it's been a while," he answered finally.

"Have there been any changes in your life between then and now--anything that could have kept you from being happy? Any mistakes you made? Decisions made in haste that you wish you could take back?"

Keiichi's looked at Urd, his eyes narrowing. "Hey," he objected, "if you're trying to blame--"

"I'm not trying to blame anyone," she stated. "Whatever conclusion you just came to is one that you arrived at by yourself."

Keiichi stopped in his tracks and shook his head. "I really need to be getting back to my apartment now."

"Hold on a minute," said Urd, her tone softening somewhat. "You said you'd hear me out."

Keiichi gave an exasperated huff. "Make it quick, then."

"The key to happiness, as my Father is fond of saying, is to 'know thyself'. You have to think hard about what you really want, and what would make you happy, and then you have to go for it--even if it seems sometimes like there's no hope at all. Oh, and try to believe in yourself. That always makes it a bit easier."

He looked at her impatiently. "Is that all?"

She nodded.

"To be honest," he said, "I was expecting something a bit more specific."

"As strange as it sounds," Urd replied, "if I told you exactly what to do, you wouldn't be able to do it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Urd nodded sympathetically. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that either. You'll just have to trust me--or, if you can't do that, then at least trust yourself."

"Great," he said flatly. "Can I go home now?"

"I suppose so," the woman replied, a look of disappointment showing on her face. "I'll see you later." Giving him a small wave, she turned away and continued down the sidewalk back toward central campus.

With a resigned shrug, Keiichi turned the opposite direction and headed back to his apartment, irritably mulling over the woman's vague words in his mind.

Keiichi slipped into his apartment and shut the door quietly behind him. Mara, surprisingly enough, was seated at their living room table, looking pale and unwell. Concerned for her well-being, Keiichi quickly abandoned his plan to go straight to his room without speaking to her.

Stepping quietly up to the table, he knelt down beside her. "Everything okay?"

"I've been better," she said hoarsely.

"Are you sick or something?"

"I guess you could say that," she answered. "I'm not exactly sick in the sense that mortals can be ill, though."

Keiichi looked up at her. "Is it serious? What happened? I mean--will you be all right?"

"I'll be okay," said Mara, nodding slowly. "There's something important I need to talk to you about, though."

Her tone did little to alleviate his fears. "What is it?" he asked.

"Earlier today," she began, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "I felt ... as if something was coming between us. That's why I'm feeling sick right now--our link was very nearly severed."

"Severed?" he asked nervously. "How do you mean?"

Mara took a breath. "You might not believe what I'm about to tell you, but I need you to trust me on this, all right?"

Keiichi nodded dumbly.

"I'm frightened of Verdandi. When she's around, I get this sense of something evil about her. I just get this awful feeling that she wants to hurt you--hurt us. I know I can't ask you to avoid her completely ... but I just want you to be careful around her, Keiichi."

"Verdandi? Mara, are you sure you're not mistaken? I mean, I don't claim to be very perceptive, but I can't imagine she'd even hurt a fly, let alone another person. She's just not like that."

"Keiichi," she said, touching his arm lightly, "I can only tell you what I feel from my intuition as a goddess--which means I can't prove this to you. I can't even prove it to myself. It's just that I've never been wrong about something like this before. So please, Keiichi ... just watch out. That's all I ask."

"All right," he replied, trying not to sound too skeptical. "I'll try to be careful around her." He paused for a moment, looking at her speculatively. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? I can get you a bowl of soup or an aspirin or something if it'll make you feel better."

"No, I'll be all right," said Mara, drawing herself up into a standing position and stretching laboriously. "I think maybe I should get some sleep."

"G'night, Mara."

"Mm."

As Keiichi watched Mara walk unsteadily toward her bedroom, couldn't help but wonder exactly what was going on. Something had happened today, setting a plethora of strange events into motion ... and somehow, he was at the center of it. Hopeless, depressed, and confused, he sat and stared at the dining room table.

Why would Mara act the way she does? Mean and uncaring one minute, and almost desperately affectionate the next. It was almost as if she were two different people--one who wanted nothing more than to keep him as far away as possible, and another who was lonely and vulnerable, afraid that he would disappear at any second. Was she acting like this because she was afraid of losing him to Verdandi?

Was she right?

Keiichi groaned and shook his head. He could sympathize with Mara to an extent; he himself was a mess of feelings, pushing away the people who cared about him most. On the other hand, he couldn't deny that he felt at least something for Verdandi. She had this almost magical ability to always say just the right thing. When he spoke with her, it felt like maybe all of his problems weren't quite so bad after all. She also had these beautiful eyes--eyes that could see right into his heart, and let him see right into hers.

Know thyself. Know what you want.

What was that strange woman talking about? What could knowing himself possibly have to do with solving his problems? Irritated at her likening his life to some sort of puzzle, he banished Urd and her nebulous advice from his mind.

"I need to get some sleep," he said to no one in particular. Groaning slightly as he stood up on sore legs, he meandered into his bedroom, shut the door behind him, and soon drifted off into fitful slumber.

I looked around the theatre, and from what I could tell, everyone seemed to be enjoying the movie so far. Megumi was sitting next to me, paying rapt attention to this kid on the screen who was looking off over to this mountain in the distance, where a purple beam of--

It's so bright, I thought to myself of the strange, purple column of light that had shot down from the sky in the distance. People around me either were used to it or missed it entirely, because no one paid any attention to it other than myself. It was strange--the air around me seemed to bend and twist in the corner of my eye, like it really wasn't happening at all.

"Keiichi?" said a soft voice. I know it. Verdandi. I turned around and saw Megumi in our parents' kitchen instead. "Yeah, sorry," I answered her. "Just thinking about something really weird that happened when I was little. Haven't thought about it much until now, though." Wondering to myself what could have caused these strange memories to surface, I opened the can of soda I had been holding. Meg looked up at me questioningly. "I was, I dunno, ten or so. I remember seeing this beam of light shoot up into the sky from a hill. You know me, Meg. I didn't know what it was, so I had to go take a look."

I blinked again, trying to get the dust out of my eyes. I realized that it was pretty nice out here in this forest. With the comfortably warm breeze and sunlight piercing down in bright beams through the treetops, it was so different than the city life I had grown used to. I had never been here before--I knew that much--but it all seemed familiar somehow, as if I had already experienced this exact same moment long ago.

I watched in wonder at the events taking place on the screen. I really felt that I could identify with the boy, despite the fact that so little of interest had happened so far. I had to wonder where they filmed it, though, because the scenery was quite nice. My attention was pulled back when they showed the main character walk into a clearing that was emitting this faint, but very realistic looking, pink glow. At least the special effects were good.

There, standing in front of me upon an old tree stump, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I stepped closer to her, half afraid that I would scare her away. She smiled reassuringly, letting me know that it was all right for me to approach. I took in her appearance as she walked; she had the prettiest--

"--silken brown hair is what first caught my eye. I tell you Meg, I've never seen anything like it before." I took another swig from my soda before continuing. "Strange dress though. Don't get me wrong, it looked great on her. It was the three blue diamond-shaped markings on her forehead and cheeks that I didn't know what to make of." I leaned back in my chair, putting my hands behind my head, relaxing and letting my back pop. "The eyes though--they seemed so familiar."

I wondered again exactly what possessed me to have that large coke before we came here, because I really had to go to the bathroom. Megumi must have noticed my fidgeting as I debated on whether or not I should leave the theatre for a moment and miss a few minutes of the movie, because she playfully slapped me on the knee and told me to pay attention. Evidently, something important was about to happen, and she didn't want me to miss it. The boy on the screen, nervous and innocent, seemed to be looking over the young girl. "What's your name?" he asked her, in a small voice.

"Verdandi," she replied to me. For some reason, I had expected her to say something else. "What's yours?" The girl asked. She seemed nice enough. Even though Mom had told me not to talk to strangers, I felt safe around her, like I could tell her anything about myself.

"Keiichi," I told her. "My name's Keiichi."

"So, she said it was nice to meet me, and she shakes my hand." Megumi looked at me dubiously. "What?" I responded, rolling my eyes. "Well, you'd be hesitant too, so don't look at me like that. Anyway, she was curious because I was able to see her. She said that I shouldn't been able to, but could because I was a friend of nature."

The boy on the screen blinked in confusion at the girl's strange words. I almost missed seeing it because I was being distracted by some kid in the row behind me, intent on kicking the back of my seat. Even with that happening, I was glad to be here; this was turning out to be a pretty good movie. I was held in suspense, waiting for the scene to unfold. "What are you?" I heard the character whisper. "Are you a faerie?"

A warm smile broke out onto her face, and I was enchanted by it. Lightly grasping both of my hands, she giggled pleasantly. "No, silly!" she said to me in that same sweet voice, her smile just as pretty as before. Her hands clenched suddenly. "I'm a demon!"

I really wasn't expecting to see that twist of events; I don't think the rest of the audience was either. My heart rate started to speed up, and I sat further back into my chair. Normally a movie wouldn't have this kind of effect on me, so I couldn't quite explain why I was acting like this--it was almost as if I was there. A dark feeling started to well up in the pit of my stomach as the movie continued. "A demon?" the boy stuttered, obviously distressed. He tried unsuccessfully to free his hands from the girl's grasp. "What are you going to do?"

"No, it's not funny Meg!" I said in exasperation. "I was scared out of my mind! How would you feel if someone told you they were going to kidnap you and make you their slave for eternity?" I was just a little upset that my sister was taking this as a joke, and the headache that was forming behind my right eye wasn't making things any easier. "So, she's still happy and smiling, but it's scary now." I shrugged and looked at the ceiling with mock embarrassment. "I finally jerked my hands loose, and ran away as fast as I could."

Groaning in defeat, I watched as Megumi decided this was the funniest thing she had ever heard and laughed herself red in the face. "Keiichi?" said that soft voice again, the one I recognized as Verdandi's. My vision blurred as I whipped my head around to see--

The girl was following me as I ran through the forest. Instead of being the sunlit relaxing place it was before, it dawned on me suddenly just how dark and foreboding it actually was; all sorts of strange shadowy forms were weaving their way in and out of the trees as I ran by them. Looking over my shoulder again, I saw that she was still trailing in my footsteps, floating effortlessly behind me, matching my speed, pace for pace.

It was the laugh, I noticed. I don't know how, but the small girl on the screen had managed to capture an innocent giggle of joy and completely twist it into something very sinister that seemed to carry a feeling of pure, terrible evil. Time seemed to slow down and warp, as I felt a cold chill sweep over me that put a strange pressure in my head, making me go numb. "Keiichi?" I heard someone call me, but I was too busy to answer, sweating profusely and shoving myself into the theatre seat as far as I could go. I couldn't take my eyes off of the events projecting out onto the screen.

"I thought I just heard somebody say my name," I mentioned, turning around and looking over the kitchen. Not finding the owner of the voice, I shrugged and walked over to the refrigerator. "I really don't know how long I was running," I said, grabbing a jar of pickles. "I tried hiding behind some trees, hoping she'd lose me. As soon as I started moving again though, she'd be right back on my tail." Much to my dismay, my headache seemed to be getting worse. "I did eventually manage to get lucky and find this old temple."

She must have been hiding from me again, because I lost sight of her when I stopped to catch my breath. I ran inside the temple; it was old, empty, and run-down, years of disuse and neglect having taken their toll. I started searching around for a place that I could hide myself. Maybe if she lost me long enough, she would decide to go back to wherever she came from and leave me alone. "Found you!" I jumped at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder.

"Come to think of it," I explained slowly, rubbing my forehead to relieve the pain building behind it, "I'm not really sure where all the time went." I frowned as I tried to recall exactly what had taken place next. Shaking my head, I continued. "I remember it all happened over several days, but the details are kinda fuzzy." I looked over to the kitchen window, and out to the cloudless blue sky beyond. "I know I should not have gone back, because I knew what I was going to find, but I just felt ... drawn to it."

"Hi, Keiichi!" she said to me, showing that innocent smile of hers when I finally caught sight of her, just out of view from the road. She started to walk up to me, but I could see that she seemed to be oddly sad today. I felt strangely calm, given her demeanor, but I soon found that I was unable to move, my feet seemingly rooted to the ground.

"My Master says that I'm too young to make you my slave right now," I heard the girl explain sadly over the background din of the music emanating from the theatre speakers. "I'm sorry Keiichi, but I can't stay here on earth any longer." Hearing that should have brought me some relief, but I could tell from the sick feeling I was experiencing that the worst was still yet to come. "Keiichi?" said her soft voice again. My eyes widened and the breath caught in my throat when I heard it. "Now hold still, okay?"

"I'm going to erase your memory, so when I'm older and have my demoness qualifications, I can come back and make you my slave then!" I just stared at her in shock, unable to respond. "And you know what's funny?" she asked me, "You won't run away next time, because you won't even know it's me!"

The movie, and everyone else around me that I could see, seemed to be moving in slow motion. Their faces deformed or grossly distorted, the laughs from the audience and the comedic music coming from the speakers were just a perverted parody of what they once were. I was able to squeak out a quiet plea of "no," while I watched through the terror I was feeling as the girl on the screen held her hands aloft--

"--and started to walk toward me." I said, closing my eyes. "I wanted to run when she put her hand on my cheek, but ... I was completely frozen, I couldn't move." I moaned in pain as the headache started to become unbearable. I thought I could hear someone asking me if I was alright, but I couldn't make out the individual words anymore. The pressure in my head was becoming so painful, I thought I was going to die. "No!" I screamed, "Get out of my head!"

It was tearing me apart, I realized. All of my memories from the last week were fading as the facial marks on the girl in front of me started to glow brighter. I tried pleading with her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. The dizziness I was experiencing was bad enough, but try as I might, I could not make my body respond to get away.

He couldn't remember waking up. His eyes were open, his heart was racing, and his breathing was rapid, but he could not seem to recall how long he had been laying there, or even what he had been dreaming about before he awoke. All he felt was the kind of vague uneasiness that follows a bad dream you can't quite remember.

Focusing his attention wearily on the digital alarm clock beside him, he pulled himself to a sitting position. It was a little after seven in the morning--a full two hours before he needed to get up for class, but something told him that, despite his fatigue, he would not be able to get back to sleep. Shaking his head quickly to get the blood flowing into his brain, he stood up, grabbed a clean Kawasaki tee-shirt out of his dresser, and threw it on. He stifled a yawn as he slid his door open and entered the kitchen.

"Sleep well?"

He looked up and was surprised to find Mara awake so early and kneeling at the dinner table, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Um, yeah," he said, scratching his head sleepily. "Well, no, actually. I feel like I haven't slept at all." Keiichi paused, then walked over to the cabinet to grab a bowl and spoon for himself, finally sitting down to the opposite side of the table from Mara. "I had this horrible nightmare."

"Mm?" she replied, munching on a mouthful of cereal.

A mass of crumbs fell from the cereal box, forming a small pile in his otherwise empty bowl. Shoulders dropping in defeat, he looked at the carton. "Do we have any more of this?"

"Mm." Mara commented, taking another bite and shrugging noncommittally. "So," she began, running the back of her wrist across her mouth, "what was your nightmare about?"

"That's the thing, really," he said, walking over to the kitchen pantry and looking aimlessly through the small space, not finding another box. "I can't really remember. You know how dreams are. When you wake up, you forget 'em." Keiichi's stomach growled, so he grabbed some crackers and sat back down. Crackers weren't much, and they certainly didn't make a very good breakfast, but he was hungry all the same; they would have to do. "It must have been something though." he said, after swallowing his food. "When I woke up, I felt pretty tense, you know? Just a general feeling of unease, and I don't know why."

"You don't say." she replied, already losing interest.

Keiichi shrugged in response, slightly disappointed about being ignored again. "Anyway, I think I'll be fine." he said after a brief pause, forcing a smile. "It's just a dream, right?"

Finishing her breakfast, Mara stood and headed off to watch TV, while Keiichi shuffled off to the bathroom. The ensuing twenty-minute soak in a hot bath was pleasant, but ultimately did very little to make him feel better. He dried himself off, dressed, combed his hair, and went back into the kitchen to get his backpack.

"I'm gonna head over to the library and try to study for a bit before my first exam," he said loudly, so that Mara could hear him in the next room. He waited a moment for her to respond, then, convinced she was ignoring him completely, he started down the hallway.

His eyes catching on something small and white, he walked over to the front door and found that a small envelope had been slipped under it.

"What's this?" he said, to no one in particular.

A miniature Urd peeked out from behind the large potted plant that decorated the hallway. Keiichi had just stumbled out the door, and was peering owlishly at the letter she had planted. "Aphrodite, this is Cupid," she whispered into her walkie-talkie. "The package has been delivered. Repeat, the package has been delivered."

"So he's got the letter?" came Skuld's reply.

"That is correct, Aphrodite."

The radio emitted a huffing noise, as if Skuld had taken extra care to sigh into her microphone. "Do we have to use these stupid code names, Urd?"

"That's Cupid!" she hissed, "and yes, we do! This is how all covert operations work. Now, do you still have visual contact with your target?"

"Who?"

"Belldandy. Do you see Belldandy?"

"Yeah, Urd, I'm still following her."

Urd grumbled to herself as Keiichi closed the door behind him and started down the hallway, trying awkwardly to open the envelope. "Copy that, Aphrodite. Keiichi is on the move. I am in pursuit."

"Hey Urd, where are they supposed to be going again?"

"I'm not answering you anymore unless you call me Cupid."

"I'll call you something that rhymes with Cupid," the radio replied.

"Skuld," Urd whispered harshly, "this is no time to be arguing about how to conduct an operation. Now pay attention and don't lose Belldandy!"

"Ha! You just called me Skuld!"

Urd hit the transmit button and suddenly realized she wasn't quite certain how to reply to that. A click at the far end of the hallway brought her attention to the fact that Keiichi was already out the door. "Crap!"

"You lost him, didn't you?"

"No I didn't!" Urd lied, assuming full size and running off down the hallway.

"Yes you did, you big dummy! You were so busy yelling at me that you forgot to pay attention to Keiichi, and he got away from you!"

Urd opened the door to the stairwell and miniaturized herself again in a puff of smoke. Swooping down between the staircases, she managed to slip into the lobby on the ground floor just as the door was closing behind Keiichi.

Skuld, fortunately, was having an easier time keeping track of Belldandy than Urd was of Keiichi. Keiichi seemed to always be stressed and hurried, while her sister, though she retained no memory of her life as a goddess, certainly maintained her sense of ease and contentment with the world. With Belldandy, there was never a rush. It was just a matter of planning ahead a little bit, so as to be in the right place at the right time.

Stopping to sit down at a bench between classes, Belldandy produced Urd's envelope from her backpack, opened it, and withdrew the letter. It had been opened before, but it was obvious that care had been taken not to rip the envelope any more than was necessary. Bell was just that sort of person.

"Please meet me at eleven thirty in room 403 of Tanaka Hall," she read aloud. "There is something important we need to discuss."

"Who could have written this?" she whispered to herself.

Skuld, seated comfortably atop a fist-sized rock, jumped somewhat when she heard Urd's voice on her radio.

"Aphrodite, this is Cupid. What's your status?"

"Still with her," she whispered in reply. "She's looking at your letter again."

"That reminds me--you did get the lock rigged right, didn't you?"

"Yup," Skuld said proudly, "once the door closes behind them, it won't open again until we let them out from the outside. And I didn't even use any electronics!"

"Well, I certainly hope--uh-oh, looks like Keiichi is on the move. I am now in pursuit. I'll contact you and inform you of any change in status."

"Okay Urd."

The radio cleared its throat insistently.

Skuld groaned. "Copy that, Cupid. Aphrodite out."

"Much better. Cupid out."

Although she would have never admitted it to her little sister, Urd was aware, at least on some level, that the whole act with the walkie-talkies, codenames, and status reports was basically just a source of amusement--something to keep them occupied in the time it took for their plan to come to fruition. It actually began to grate on her as the clock crept toward eleven thirty; she slipped a few times and called Skuld by her real name as opposed to Aphrodite, and finally she just gave up entirely.

Keiichi, meanwhile, had been sitting in class for most of the morning, staring blankly at the chalkboard as the professor went about giving his lecture on the basics of alternating current. Every once in a while, he would glance back over his shoulder, almost certain that a little voice had been following him around all day. Unable to identify its source, however, he soon dismissed it as a side-effect of stress and lack of sleep.

Urd, by this time, was fairly certain that her scheme would turn out well--Keiichi had read and re-read the letter several times since he had originally picked it up, and seemed determined to show up as invited, if only out of pure morbid curiosity. When his class ended at twenty after eleven, he looked over it one last time, memorizing the building and room numbers, then slung his backpack over his shoulder and started off to meet its writer.

"Hey, Skuld," Urd whispered into her radio, hovering up near the ceiling tiles. "Class is out. Keiichi's on his way to the meeting place."

"Same here," was the reply. "Bell's got a bit farther to go, so you'll probably get there first."

"All right. Let me know if anything unexpected happens."

Keiichi was certainly not taking his time; he was hurried and nervous as he left the building and walked up campus toward Tanaka Hall. It took Urd a goodly effort to keep up with him and remain out of sight. Several times, she found herself negotiating tree branches at a fairly high velocity, and had to swoop out of the way of an oblivious pedestrian on more than one occasion. She couldn't help but smile to herself, though, as Keiichi entered Tanaka Hall and started up the staircase. He was playing right into her hands--getting him to wish for Bell would be a cinch.

Verdandi looked up at the building with apprehension, her hair and dress whipping back in the heavy wind. She had an uneasy feeling about meeting this mystery writer, as if some sort of sense told her that something very bad was going to happen once she got there. Shaking her head to clear the disquiet from her mind, she squared her shoulders and walked inside.

She found the building to be surprisingly devoid of people. A small group of students were standing together, talking quietly at the far end of the large hallway, and another was seated at a desk studying, but none of them even looked her direction when she entered. She turned and started up the large staircase to her right, the tapping sound of her quiet footfalls against the concrete reverberating ominously though the stairwell.

The climb seemed to take forever, and she was short of breath by the time she finally reached the fourth floor. Room 403 was just down the hall to her left, the door hanging slightly ajar, daylight pouring through from inside. Cautiously, she stepped up to the door and walked in.

It clicked shut behind her, although she herself had not pulled it closed.

"Keiichi?"

He was leaning up against the far wall of the room when Verdandi came in, looking around apprehensively. When he heard her voice, his breath caught in his throat, and an irrational sense of dread welled up inside him. He remained there, perfectly motionless, his eyes those of a cornered animal.

"Keiichi? What's wrong?" she asked, taking a step toward him.

All he could think of was getting away. Unable to back up any farther, he slid along the wall toward the back of the room, his gaze fixed on her in pure terror.

"Why--why are you looking at me like that?" she stammered. "Why won't you tell me what's the matter?"

"GET AWAY!" he screamed, stumbling over a row of desks as he bolted toward the back of the room.

Dumbfounded, Verdandi could only look at him, her expression hurt. "Keiichi ... I--"

"I said get away from me, you witch!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "You're just like all the rest! No, you're worse than that! You're sneaky and underhanded, trying to get me to like you just so you can take me away from Mara and then hurt me! Well, I'm not gonna let you! GET OUTTA HERE!"

Verdandi was scared. She had never seen anyone like this, let alone Keiichi. His expression was feral, as if he were ready to rush and attack her at any second. When she finally got the bearings to do so, she ran for the door, and found to her horror that it would not open.

"What do you mean you can't get it open?" Urd demanded. "Open it, now!"

"I can't," Skuld repeated. "I must have rigged the lock wrong, and it's stuck somehow."

The two goddesses were interrupted by a pounding noise coming from inside. "Let me out!" Belldandy screamed. "Someone let me out!"

"How? How could this have happened?" Urd asked no one in particular. "Things were going so well yesterday, and now this! The door, Skuld!" she shouted. "Open the door!"

"I'm trying!" she replied, fumbling with her tools amid the frantic pounding from within. "Something's stuck, and I can't get it fixed with Bell shaking it like this!"

"Someone please open the door!"

Her own heart racing, Skuld was working as fast as she could, given the conditions. It seemed like an eternity, but finally, she managed to pry the bolt open. "Got it!"

In a puff of smoke, the two goddesses took on their miniature forms and hid themselves from view as Belldandy crashed through the door. Tears streamed from her face as she ran out into the hall and down the stairs, sobbing in misery and fright.

When the clatter of her exit finally died down, Urd and Skuld crept up to the open door and peeked inside. Keiichi was still standing there against the wall, surrounded by overturned desks. His face was red, and his breathing shallow. His expression was empty, as if he was too shocked by his own actions to make sense of what had just taken place.

"What do we do now, sis?" Skuld whispered.

"I dunno, Skuld," Urd shook her head, defeated. "I just don't know."

Jeez, it's three in the morning. I wish I could sleep, but I can't seem to make myself.

Why? Why did I say all that stuff to Verdandi? Why did I flip out like that when I saw her? It's as if she hurt me or something, but I don't remember how. And I know it's ridiculous. She'd never do anything to hurt me--she's not that kind of person.

Up until today, I didn't think I was either.

Damn it, what's happening to my life? What kind of a person am I turning into?


	5. Chapter 5: Eyes of Blue and Angel Wings

Goddess in the Mirror

Chapter 5: Eyes of Blue and Angel Wings

By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye

He saw her once that morning, on his way to class. She averted her eyes as she passed him, and his own chest tensed up with feelings of shame and embarrassment. He pretended not to notice her.

This morning was much like any other recent one. Monotonous. Monotonous and lonely. It seemed to Keiichi that his entire life had been monotonous and lonely lately, every experience veiled under an intangible dark cloud. And yesterday's outburst hadn't helped--Verdandi, the one person who had made him feel like he wasn't alone, was now afraid of him--and for what? The strange feeling of foreboding that he experienced in her presence grated on the back of his mind; for some reason, it didn't quite fit in with everything else. It was almost as if it had been put there somehow.

Shrugging off his thoughts of Verdandi, he reminded himself that he was indifferent to the whole situation. Indifference was cold and desolate, but it beat guilt hands-down.

A vague twinge of hunger reminded him that he hadn't eaten for almost a day, so he plodded off toward the cafeteria in hopes of snagging an early lunch. It was quarter 'til eleven when he got there, and lunch wasn't served until the hour, so he slipped a few coins into a vending machine and purchased a bag of stale potato chips.

Munch.

Stare.

Munch.

Stare.

This is my life.

About two thirds of the way into the bag, he looked up at the sound of his full name spoken in quiet tones across the room. He glanced up listlessly at the chatter just in time to see a scruffy-looking man in his mid-twenties who he didn't recognize look over at him and give a friendly wave. The other participant in the conversation was a young classmate of his named Akito something-or-other. They were vaguely acquainted, and had even spoken on friendly terms a few times, but they were not close friends by any stretch.

Keiichi's casual glance turned to one of suspicion as the elder of the two approached him, wearing a wry but affable smile.

'"Scuse me," the stranger asked, looking curiously at him. "You Keiichi Morisato, by any chance?"

"That's me," he replied flatly.

The man bowed slightly. "Seiji Hidaka," he said. "It's an honor to make your acquaintance. Don't stand up," he added, seeing Keiichi start to rise. "Is it all right if I sit here for a minute?"

Keiichi shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

Hidaka took a seat across from Keiichi and stretched. "So," he started, "you're probably wondering who I am."

Keiichi nodded warily.

"The thing is," he continued, "we've actually met before. I was wearing a motorcycle helmet at the time, though, so it's doubtful that you'd recognize me."

Keiichi blinked at the man's implication.

"I'm a professional racer," he explained. "I drive for a team down in Osaka." Hidaka shrugged and went on, indifferent to Keiichi's incredulity. "At any rate, I just wanted to meet you in person. I've never won a race before and ended up having the crowd give a standing ovation for the other team."

"Well," Keiichi started hesitantly, "it's a pleasure meeting you--you'll have to forgive me, though--this is unexpected, and I'm not quite sure what to say."

"Yeah, I guess not," he replied, grinning knowingly. "This isn't really something I normally do. Anyway, I just wanted to come and tell you that I've been in an accident or two in my time, and I know how discouraging they can be ... but it'd be a damn shame if someone with your skill decided to quit racing. You had those other guys beat hands-down, and if you'd been on a better bike, you'd have beaten me as well. You got guts, Morisato," he added, giving the young man a slap on the shoulder. "Some time, when you've gone pro, I'd like a rematch."

Keiichi took a sip from his 7-up and managed a wan smile. "If you say so. How'd you manage to find me, anyway?" he ventured.

"Well, I looked up your club president in the student directory and gave him a ring, and he gave me your number, so I called your place. I think I woke your girlfriend up, so I hope she's not too PO-ed or anything. She said you'd be home later, so I figured I'd stop by campus and maybe pick up a bite to eat before I headed over to your place. Your friend over there saw me wandering around and asked if there was anything he could help me with."

Keiichi nodded.

"Anyway," Hidaka concluded, "I gotta be heading back. Just keep racing, all right? You could go pro, if you keep at it." He grinned, standing again. "See ya 'round, bud."

Keiichi gave the man a quiet but respectful nod as he left. Where the encouragement would have been quite heartening had he received it at another time, he found it hollow and unfulfilling, given his current circumstances. He tried for a little while to focus his mind on the conversation, and perhaps make himself feel a bit better; it did him little good, though--soon, he was once again mulling over yesterday's incident with Verdandi in his mind.

A small boy wandering through the forest approaches a clearing, from which emanates a soft, pink glow. Standing upon a tree trunk at the clearing's center is a beautiful girl with long, silken brown hair, gazing at him through the trees. Enchanted by this beautiful creature, he steps closer, half afraid that he will frighten her and cause her to run away. He soon discovers that this is not the case; she smiles kindly as he draws near. Finally, he comes to a stop several feet away from her and studies her inquisitively. She is wearing a strange, beautiful dress, and she has a blue, diamond-shaped marking on her forehead, as well as two more about her cheeks. There is something hauntingly familiar about her--her eyes, especially. Somewhere deep inside him, he knows who she is, but he is for some reason unable to recall where he last met her.

"Keiichi!"

It took him a moment to get his bearings as strange vision faded. He could tell even before he turned around that the voice was Megumi's--and she sounded pretty angry. Rubbing his eyes, he twisted around in his seat at the cafeteria table and looked up sheepishly at his sister.

"Keiichi," she said again, clenching her fists, "what happened with you and Verdandi last night? Just what possessed you to go ballistic on her like that?"

There was no good explanation for it. Try as he might to come up with some sort of reason, the simple fact was that there was no rational explanation for the way he had acted yesterday. He searched his mind for a reply as Megumi circled around the table and took a seat across from him, but nothing came to him.

She shook her head in disgust. "Ya know, when Verdandi got home last night, the way she was shook up, I thought she'd got into a fight with Mara or somebody, but then I come to find out it was you! Now, I'm not going to leave until you explain to me exactly why you did that!"

"I don't know, Meg. It was like I just freaked out all of a sudden."

"Oh, right! Like I'm supposed to believe you just suddenly lost all control of yourself!"

The girl giggles pleasantly. "No, silly! I'm a demon!"

This is strange and unexpected. A dark feeling wells up from the bottom of little boy's stomach. He wants to run away, but for some reason he does not.. "A d--demon? What are you going to do?"

"I'm here to kidnap you and make you my slave for all eternity!"

"Keiichi!"

"W--what?"

"Answer me!"

Keiichi rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Really, Megumi. I honestly have no idea why I did it. It's like I'm going crazy or something."

"Pleading insanity isn't gonna cut it, Keiichi. I want to know why my own brother would do something like that! It's like I don't even know you anymore!"

Once more, he concentrated on last night, along with the strange, almost alien thoughts and feelings that had been running through his mind at the time.

"Now hold still, okay? I'm going to erase your memory, so when I'm older and have my demon qualifications, I can come back and make you my slave then! And you won't run away, because you won't know it's me!" She titters. "Isn't that funny?"

The girl holds her hand aloft and walks toward him. He wants to turn and run, but he cannot. With an innocently evil smile, she places her hand on his cheek. The mark on her forehead begins to glow, and he feels a sudden bout of dizziness.

"Keiichi! Answer me!"

Swaying slightly in his seat, he blinked a few times and placed a hand on the table to steady himself. "I DON'T KNOW!" he snapped.

It dawned on Megumi then that her brother looked decidedly unwell, and perhaps he was telling her the truth. Gingerly, she reached out and placed the back of his hand on his forehead. Feeling no fever, she pulled away. "Are you all right, Kei?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"I'm really sorry, Kei. I got a bit carried away there ... you really don't look to good. Maybe you should go see a doctor or something."

"No, I'll be all right. I just haven't been getting enough sleep lately--that's all."

"You sure?"

Keiichi nodded slowly. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll be okay once exams are over. I'm just tired and stressed, and I'm not thinking straight right now. I'll just have a couple cups of coffee, and I should be okay."

"Listen, Kei, I'm sorry I snapped at you. Really, though, you look kinda sick, so I think you should at least go in for a check-up. I'm gonna head over to the library and study for a while, but I'll stop by your place some time this afternoon, okay?"

"Mm," he replied, nodding almost imperceptibly. He waved a languid goodbye as Megumi stood up and left. She cast a worried glance at him over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

"Megumi," he asked, "could you do me a favor?"

She stopped in the doorway and turned back around to face him. "What is it?"

"I know she probably doesn't want to hear about me right now, but tell her I'm sorry, okay?"

"I'll do that," she replied quietly.

Keiichi smiled weakly as she left. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it in front of her, but he was starting to think that maybe something was wrong. It was almost as if he had been delirious over the past few minutes. The very thought of Verdandi--and last night in particular--seemed to bring a host of unpleasant images to mind. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before--and that worried him.

Doing his best to clear the reservations from his mind, he went over to the cafeteria counter and ordered a cup of coffee.

The idea had crossed her mind. It was the sort of thing that always crossed her mind at four in the afternoon, after she had grown tired of the ways she normally amused herself during the day.

Mara certainly wasn't attracted to him, by any stretch--the mere thought was ridiculous--but she did wonder at times what it would be like to enjoy a normal relationship for once. Something without games, without all the tricks and manipulation that demons were so fond of.

Against the rules. That's what it would be like. The very act of entertaining this sort of idea would be, at the very least, a red mark on her next performance review, if anyone were to ever find out about it. Like Xig, for instance. Two days ago, that little turd had even had the audacity to suggest that she had feelings for Keiichi. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

It's not true, she told herself, so there's nothing to worry about. Right?

"Hey Mara." The apartment door opened to reveal the weary face of her charge.

"Mm," she mumbled, shifting slightly in her seat at the table and then going back to the magazine she hadn't really been reading.

"Hey, Mara," he said again softly, setting his book bag down atop the kitchen counter, "have you ever done something you wished you hadn't?"

Story of my life, she wanted to say.

"The reason I ask is because I yelled at one of my friends yesterday, and now they're afraid to talk to me."

She felt an unpleasant mix of jealousy and guilt upon hearing that. She knew exactly who Keiichi was talking about--but just what the hell was so great about Verdandi, anyway? It seemed that she wasn't enough to keep his thoughts from her, even after Xig had implanted the false memories in his mind. Instead of banishing Verdandi from his thoughts, he was worrying about it--blaming himself, feeling terrible about what had transpired. If anything, he was thinking about her even more now than he had been before.

Keiichi sighed. "I guess maybe goddesses don't have regrets. Anyway, I should probably be counting my blessings instead of dumping on you. I am living with a goddess after all. I'm gonna go see if I can get through this problem set," he added, taking a textbook from his bag and making for his room.

Mara closed her eyes and drew in a deep, shaky breath, wondering why this had all seemed like such a great idea back when she started. She half expected Keiichi to wander back out into the living room to talk to her again--she almost wanted him to--but he remained in his room for the rest of the evening. Finally, finding little solace in the irritatingly superficial women's magazine she was reading, she decided to turn in for the night as well.

The sharp, bright sunlight shown into Keiichi's room the following morning, bringing him into reluctant wakefulness. He lay back against his pillow and sighed. After a sound night of sleep, things were a bit clearer, for all the good that did him.

What he had done to Verdandi--he had no explanation for it at all, and yet he could do nothing to banish it from his mind. All of a sudden, he had completely lost control of his thought process, and yelled at the poor girl for no reason he could even fathom.

A strange, fleeting image of a young girl chasing him through a dark forest crossed his mind. It was surreal, in a way, and poorly formed; perhaps a fragment of a bad dream. He wondered briefly why the thought of Verdandi would conjure up this vaguely disturbing vision, but soon dismissed it from his mind; he had more to worry about this morning than an imaginary chase through the woods.

He could only guess that Megumi was still furious. They had parted on reasonably good terms the last time they talked, but he couldn't imagine she would easily forgive something like that. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he knew she was right when she had told him he had changed recently--and until he could sort things out, he didn't want to face her.

Which left Mara. Given his brooding and pestering over the past few days, she had been surprisingly tolerant--more so than the rest of his friends, at any rate. Squinting into the unwelcome morning sun, he decided that he should do something for her; after all, she had stuck by him all this time.

Nine thirty. Mara probably wouldn't be up for another hour yet, which would give him time to wash up and cook her a nice breakfast. Keiichi was by no means a master chef, but be was capable of making a decent plate of bacon and eggs when the situation called for it. Donning his robe, he made his way into the bathroom for a quick soak in the tub. Half an hour later, he was dressed and cooking, and another twenty minutes after that, he was standing in front of Mara's closed door, tray in hand.

He knocked quietly on the wooden pane, causing the thin door to rattle slightly in its slide. "Mara?"

"Hm? What?" she asked irritably from within.

"I, um, made some breakfast for you," he offered hesitantly, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, whatever," Mara replied.

That was about as affirmative as Mara ever got. Holding the tray unsteadily in one hand, he slid the door open with the other and entered the room. She was lying in bed, looking somewhat displeased about having been woken up. He smiled sheepishly at her and set the tray down quietly beside her bed. She looked up at him for a little while before starting; it was disconcerting, to say the least. Her expression was unreadable, but there was obviously something going through her mind. She reached for the fork hesitantly, then stopped, pulled her hand back, and looked at the breakfast for a few seconds.

"I don't want it," she said.

Keiichi hung his head. "Sorry. I guess maybe I should have asked you first. I know you haven't been feeling well lately, so I thought maybe this would make you feel a bit better ... and anyway," he continued hesitantly, "I kinda wanted to thank you for sticking by me, even though no one else is, and it seems like my life's coming apart. But anyway, if you're not hungry, I'll--"

"I can eat it if it's that important to you," she said, picking up the fork.

Keiichi waited while she ate the food indifferently, taking occasional sips from the glass of orange juice he had brought her, and looking out the window. Finally, when she had finished the majority of her meal, she set the fork back down on the plate.

"How was it?" Keiichi asked her.

She looked away from him. "It was terrible. You overcooked it."

"I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to--"

"Go away," she said quietly.

"I--"

"Get out!" she snapped, turning back to him with eyes afire. "Get out of my room!"

Taken aback, Keiichi hastily picked up the tray and complied with her request. When he picked up his books and left for class some minutes later, he was feeling no better than he had the previous night.

Damn you, Keiichi!

What the hell is wrong with you? You never get mad at me, you never fight back. If you'd just yell back once, I could convince myself that you deserve all this, and I wouldn't feel so damned guilty.

You nearly kill yourself in a race because I pushed you too hard, and you apologize for it.

I ruin your life, and you make me breakfast.

You're playing with me, dammit! You know you're making me suffer! You're just trying to--

Who the hell am I kidding?

There's nobody like you where I come from. Of course, I guess if there were, it wouldn't really be Hell, then, would it? Nobody cares about other people down there--they're all just trying to get ahead by keeping everybody else down.

I really should be happy. This is the best plan I've ever come up with, and it's working better than I could have ever hoped. Maybe that's the problem, though. I guess I didn't plan on success--I like the fighting. Victory is so empty.

How was I supposed to know? How could I have guessed that I'd like it when you're nice to me? Demons aren't supposed to be this weak. Damn, I feel so stupid!

I've never met anyone like you before, and you do deserve better.

Some demon I am.

Standing at the edge of the fountain in the courtyard some time later, Keiichi stared dolefully at his slowly rippling reflection and mulled over the events of the past few days.

"Keiichi?"

He was so used to his thoughts being interrupted by now that he didn't bother to look up. "What is it?"

Urd's reflection moved in beside his own. "Want to talk?" she asked him.

"Look at this," he said, pointing down at his own reflection in the water. "Would you want to be friends with someone who had that face?"

"What do you mean?"

Keiichi sighed. "I wasn't always like this. Everything's coming apart around me, and I'm becoming a jerk because of it. Or maybe things are coming apart around me because I'm being a jerk." He shrugged. "I guess it's sort of a vicious cycle."

Urd's likeness smiled up at him. "That's usually how it works," she agreed.

"Verdandi's afraid of me, my girlfriend refuses to acknowledge that I'm even alive, and my little sister thinks I'm going crazy. And heck, with the way things have been these past couple days, I'm almost inclined to agree with her."

"And I gather you're enjoying all of this?"

"What?" He looked up at her sharply.

"Oh, I dunno," Urd replied distantly, gazing at the water tumbling down over the top ledge of the fountain, "that's just the impression I got from you. You seem to be taking great pleasure from wallowing in self-pity."

"What?" he said again, appalled.

"I could be wrong," she offered, "but seeing as how haven't bothered to actually do anything about your problems, I figured maybe you were getting to like them."

"Just what am I supposed to do?" he demanded. "You run around claiming to be a goddess, and yet you can't even tell me that much!"

Urd crossed her arms. "I could tell you," she replied, "but there wouldn't be much point in that, seeing as how you already know the answer."

"Oh, so we're back to that again. I told you. If I knew what was wrong, if I knew how to fix it, I would have done something by now. But I don't!"

"Keiichi, look at me."

He fixed his eyes on his reflection in the water.

"Look at me," she repeated. "Look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that you don't know why you're unhappy."

He looked up at her but remained silent, his expression an angry glare.

"I'm waiting," she said expectantly.

Keiichi bit his lip and breathed in through his nose. He had been denying it for a long time now, and by God, he wasn't gonna waste all that effort by admitting it now.

"You can't say it, can you?" she goaded. "You can't tell me you honestly don't know what's wrong, because you'd be lying. And here I was, thinking you'd be strong enough to own up to--"

"All right!" he barked. "All right! It's Mara, damn it! She treats me like dirt, she doesn't give a crap about anything I do, she never listens to me, and she's always manipulating me and playing with my feelings! I haven't been happy since I met her! Is that it? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Is that what you wanted to say?" she asked him, her voice softening.

Biting his lip again, he nodded quietly. Urd reached out and pulled him into a hug; he sunk his face into her shoulder and held on tightly, drawing comfort from her embrace.

"It's your life, Keiichi," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "It's within your power to make things better. You just need to do it, that's all."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, his voice muffled.

"Are you ready?" she asked at length.

He let go of her and stepped back. "You mean I have to do it now?"

Urd shrugged. "Why wait? Things aren't going to get better until you fix them."

Keiichi closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. "I guess you're right."

"You guess?"

He shook his head, making a fist. "I know you're right."

"That's better."

"Wish me luck?" he ventured.

Urd grinned, giving him a gentle pat on the arm. "There's no such thing--but I wish you the best."

He forced a smile. "Thanks."

"Be brave, Keiichi," she whispered as he turned to go.

Alone.

That's what it boiled down to. There may or may not be people backing him up and wanting him to succeed, but when it came to these big, pivotal moments in his life, it was just him, the bike, and the road--figuratively speaking, in this case.

The walk back to his apartment was almost automatic. He saw everything that was going on around him with absolute clarity, yet he paid his surroundings no attention whatsoever. When Akiko greeted him as he entered the building, he nodded politely, adjusted his backpack and continued on up the stairs.

His steps in the stairwell were slow and deliberate, echoing determination off of the otherwise silent walls. Reaching the third floor, he stepped into the hallway, walked wordlessly past nine pairs of doors, and entered his own apartment. It was, as they say, now or never.

Surprisingly, she was seated at the living room table when he arrived. She looked up at him, her expression somehow different from usual.

"Mara," he said, "we really have to talk."

She gave no reply, and her expression did not change as he moved to sit down across from her.

He took a deep breath, and then spoke. "Mara, I'm ending our relationship."

She started at that, which was strange--he had been expecting anger or resentment, or at least more tearful manipulation, but her face remained blank.

"I know we're on contract," he continued, "and I know you told me that you'll be with me forever, because the Ultimate Force is making it that way ... but things have to change. Since we met, I've been doing everything I can think of to try and make you happy, and all you've done in return is give me the run-around. It's gotten to the point where I can hardly sleep, and I can't think straight anymore."

"You can't just break our contract," she said, with just a hint of desperate insistence in her voice. "It's impossible--the Ultimate Force won't allow it."

"I didn't say I was breaking our contract," he countered. "I said I'm ending our relationship. You can follow me for the rest of my life if you want, but you can't make me care about you."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and her lower lip trembled, but Keiichi just shook his head. "That's won't work this time," he said. "I know you're just crying for show, thinking I'm gonna buckle like I always do. I can't do that this time, though. I've been ruining my life and chasing away my friends because I've been too mad and depressed about my relationship with you."

"Keiichi," she started, a tear running down her face, "I didn't mean to--"

"Stop that!" he snapped. "I told you, that's not gonna work anymore! I'm not gonna keep letting you run my life! I mean, look at me! I wasn't this person when we met! Did you know that two days ago, I even yelled at Verdandi? Verdandi, of all people! You've had me so stressed out that I'm getting delusions and hurting people I care about!"

The demoness' breath caught in her throat. There was something piercing about the look in his eyes. Keiichi Morisato, an innocent wronged, was staring directly into her bare soul, and there was nothing she could do to hide.

"I trusted you, Mara! Can't you see that? You told me you were a goddess, and I believed you--and now, because of that stupid wish I made, I have to live like this, with what I really want always just out of reach!"

Mara said nothing, the fire in his eyes keeping her silent.

"I hope you're happy," he continued icily. "I hope you can look at what you've done and feel good about what you've put me through." Without waiting for a reply, he walked casually to the doorway, slipped into a pair of sandals, and stepped outside.

Mara remained frozen at the table for a long time.

"Meg, I need to talk to Verdandi."

"Keiichi," she admonished from just inside the door, "I don't think that's really a good idea right now."

He took a deep breath. "Megumi, you're gonna have to trust me on this. I don't know why, but I'm certain that going in and talking to Verdandi right now is one of the most important things I'll ever do in my entire life."

"Just what are you planning to tell her?" she asked skeptically.

"I dunno yet. Whatever comes out, I guess. I mean, it's not something I'm planning, ya know? I just have to talk to her."

And then she saw his eyes. Looking back at her was not the person he had become over the past few weeks, but rather the Keiichi she had grown up with. She wanted to hug him.

"Megumi?" He waved his hand in front of her face. "Can I come in, or not?"

"Yes. Yes, you can. " Stepping aside, she motioned him in and reached back to shut the door behind him. "She's in her room studying."

Keiichi nodded to her and walked purposefully up to her door. It was half-open, and he could see her inside, seated at her desk, reading a textbook.

He cleared his throat nervously and knocked softly on the door. "Verdandi?"

She stood up at the sound of his voice. "Come in."

"Um, hi," he said, entering the room sheepishly. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she said. "Kinda tired, though. How are you?"

"I'm good, I think. Better than I've been in a long time." He paused, searching for words. "Listen, I know you probably don't want to see me right now, but I really need to talk to you--it's really important."

Verdandi nodded.

"First ... I'm sorry ... sorry about what happened. I honestly don't know what came over me--I was tired and angry and stressed out, and I know that doesn't excuse it, but I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. I know it sounds really stupid, but--"

There was something in his eyes--something in the sound of his voice and the way he carried himself. He seemed different, somehow. Earnest and caring and all the other things that she knew that, deep down, he wanted to be. "I believe you," she said. "And it's all right. People say things without thinking sometimes--it just happens."

"You mean--you forgive me? Just like that?"

She smiled. "What kind of a world would this be if people couldn't forgive each other?"

He nodded, fidgeting slightly.

She took a step toward him. "Is there more?" she prompted.

He took a shaky breath and squared his shoulders. "Yeah. Yeah, there is, but I'm not quite sure where to start."

She walked up to him slowly and took his hands hesitantly into hers. "It's all right," she said, her own voice trembling slightly. "Take as much time as you need."

He swallowed. "Well, this is gonna sound really weird ... and I'm hoping that you'll take it on faith that I'm telling the truth, because, even though I'm not a good liar, I could make up something a bit more believable than this."

She nodded.

"Anyway," Keiichi stammered, "if you don't believe me, I'll understand, and I'll deserve it too, since it's all a result of something I--"

"Keiichi," she said softly. "It's all right. Whatever it is you're going to tell me, I'll believe you."

He took another deep breath, calming himself. "Okay. Remember when you saw that woman coming out of the TV screen a while back? You might think it was some sort of weird dream or hallucination or something, but it wasn't. It was real. See, the woman you saw is named Urd. She's a goddess, and she works as a sysadmin up in Heaven. I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but it's no weirder than when she came out of the TV, is it?"

"Heaven?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yeah. That's what she tells me ... Well, anyway, Mara's a goddess too--or at least she says she is. And what goddesses do is they go around and grant wishes for people. Anyway, this is gonna sound really stupid, but the reason I'm with Mara is because I wished for her. She just popped out of my stereo and kinda took me by surprise, and I thought my auto club buddies were playing a joke on me or something, so I wished for her to be my girlfriend, and now, well, there's this thing called the 'Ultimate Force' that's supposedly keeping us together."

She looked up into his eyes, her attention rapt.

"Anyway, I don't even know why I'm telling you this, because I know it won't do any good, but I really want you to know. I know I must sound insane, and I'll probably just end up making things worse when I tell you this, but I can't not do it. Remember ... remember a couple days ago, on the bench, when you gave me that cookie, and I started to say something, and didn't finish?"

She held his hands tightly, and looked even more deeply into his eyes, if that were even possible. "What is it?"

"Well, what I was gonna say is ..." He trailed off, his voice catching in the back of his throat. Fear gripped him. What if she reacted badly? What if he just ended up making things worse? How could he possibly be worthy of a girl like her?

"Keiichi, please tell me." She was on the verge of tears. "Please tell me what you were going to say. I have to know!"

He cleared his throat again, trying to find his voice. When it didn't come, he whispered to her instead: "Verdandi ... I wish things were different. I wish I could be with you, instead of Mara. I mean, I know I don't deserve you, but you're the nicest--"

"Keiichi..." she said, suddenly losing her balance. Her grip on his hands loosened, and she staggered forward and collapsed into his arms. Shocked, it was all he could do to hold her upright.

Suddenly, as if gripped by some unseen force, her body pulled away from him, floating several inches above the ground into the center of the room. A beam of blinding white light shot forth from her upturned forehead, and the various trinkets around her room began to shake and clatter as they were lifted slowly into the air along with her.

Transfixed, Keiichi watched in amazement as everything in the room began spinning around Verdandi, much like he had seen with Mara some weeks ago.

"Keiichi!" Megumi yelled from the doorway over the rising crescendo of holy chaos, her arm held up protectively in front of her face. "What did you do?"

He looked back at her for a moment, if only to acknowledge that he had heard her. Things were spinning around him rapidly now, but somehow nothing hit him. He approached Verdandi as the beam of light grew in intensity; blue markings were now plainly visible on her cheeks; and her hair, flowing magically through the air as if under water, had taken on a wondrous luster that he would never find the words to fully describe. All around her was an aura of radiant beauty, the magnificence of her soul shining gloriously beyond the confines of her earthly body.

Then, all at once, the beam faded; and when she fell from the air, Keiichi was there to catch her.

Belldandy didn't want to open her eyes. As she returned to consciousness, she could feel a pair of strong, steady arms around her, and she knew they were his. He loosened his grip on her as she put her weight down on her feet, but she put her own arms around him and held him tightly, making it perfectly clear that she did not want to be let go. Lifting her face up so that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.

"Your wish," she whispered, "has been approved."

Keiichi was at a loss for words. "You're a ... how could ... I mean ... I just--"

And she kissed him. Long enough that Megumi, who was still standing in the doorway, started to feel a bit awkward.

Finally, Belldandy broke the kiss and gazed back up at him.

"Well," he said, "if you put it like that..." He took a deep breath. "This is really overwhelming. In a good way," he amended hastily. "I think I need to sit down."

She let go of him almost reluctantly, and knelt down beside him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder as he took a seat on the floor.

"Um, what just happened here?" asked Megumi, taking a cautious step into the room.

Slowly, memories began to pour back into Belldandy's mind. She had been about to grant Keiichi a wish--she was in transit, actually--when something grabbed her our of nowhere--and the next thing she knew, she was standing in front of an apartment building with no memory of who she was. "I'm not sure," she said, shaking her head. "I was on my way down from heaven to grant Keiichi's wish, and something really strange happened, and then I was standing out in front Northwood Tower, except I couldn't remember who I was."

Megumi blinked. "Heaven? Does that mean you're some sort of angel or something?"

"An angel? Oh, heavens no!"

Megumi breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm a goddess!" Belldandy continued.

"Oh, well tha--a what?"

Keiichi looked over at his little sister and nodded. "It's true. The same thing happened when I met Mara--she's a goddess too."

Bell shook her head. "Mara's not a goddess. She's a demon."

Keiichi rubbed his eyes, overwhelmed. "Wow, this is all happening really fast. I mean, I guess it makes sense and all, with the way she acted, but still. This is all really ... just, wow. I'm in shock."

The conversation would have continued along this vein for quite some time, had there not been a knock on the door at that moment.

"Who could that be?" Megumi mused.

"Mara?" suggested Keiichi.

Belldandy nodded. "You're probably right. Maybe I should get it." She stood quietly and squared her shoulders, then made her way into the living room. Cautiously, she opened the front door, and was nearly bowled over by the two people waiting outside.

"Big Sister!" Skuld bounded into the door and wrapped Bell in the fiercest bear hug her young arms could manage.

Urd was a bit more subdued about it, walking casually in and taking both her sisters into a tight embrace. "Glad to have you back, Bell," she said.

"Keiichi," Megumi whispered, "what's going on? Isn't that the woman that broke into our apartment a while back? And who's the other one?"

"Yeah, that's Urd. I'm not sure about the kid, though."

"I'm not a kid!"

Keiichi blinked. "She heard that?"

"Oh my," said Belldandy, releasing her hold on her two sisters. "Forgive my awful manners! Keiichi, Megumi, these are my sisters, Urd and Skuld."

The elder waved, and the younger stuck her tongue out at Keiichi.

"Skuld," Bell chided, "that's really not nice."

"But Belldandy, he said I was a kid!"

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, Skuld."

"Belldandy?" Keiichi asked.

Bell nodded. "My real name," she said. "I'm sorry if this is confusing for you--you can call me Verdandi if you'd like."

"Belldandy," he said again slowly, testing the sound of it. "There's no need to apologize. I mean, it's not like what happened was your idea. Anyway," he continued, fidgeting slightly, "now that we're all here, I don't suppose somebody could tell me what's going on?"

"Yeah," Megumi agreed, "I'm a bit curious about all this myself."

"Urd?" Belldandy glanced up at her older sister.

Urd nodded. "Yeah, I think Skuld and I can fill you in on the main points."

"Why don't we all go sit down, as opposed to discussing this here in the doorway?" Megumi suggested.

The others agreed, and they were soon crowded around the kitchen's small table.

"Now," said Urd, "where to begin ... I guess it all started when I noticed that I hadn't heard from Bell for a couple weeks. I decided to check up on her, and as it turns out, she was living down here, going by 'Verdandi'. Anyway, I came to find out that Mara was involved somehow, so I went to Skuld and had her look up a few things on the Yggdrasil mainframe--just to confirm my suspicions, you understand."

Skuld crossed her arms. "Oh, yeah, I bet."

"Anyway," Urd continued, ignoring Skuld's objection, "as I was saying, we discovered that somehow Bell's memory had been sealed up while she was transporting down to earth. You aren't s'posed to be able to do it, but I guess Mara had somebody hack in and do some technical crap to the Yggdrasil mainframe."

Megumi leaned over to her brother, a look of incomprehension on her face. "What's she talking about?"

Keiichi just shrugged.

"She changed Bell's record," Skuld interjected proudly, oblivious to Megumi's question, "and the only way you can do that to a goddess in when the record unlocks for an update, which is during the time that she's teleporting. Funny thing is, I didn't think Mara was smart enough to be able to do something like that."

Urd nodded. "Yeah, that's what I meant to say. Anyway, since Mara granted Keiichi a wish, and Bell's memory returning would threaten it, the Infernal Power was protecting the changes made to the record."

"Infernal Power?" Keiichi asked.

"The demonic opposite to the Ultimate Force," Urd explained. "It makes sure that wishes granted by demons are fulfilled. Now, since the Ultimate Force and the Infernal Power are opposites, we figured out that the only way to get Bell's memory back was to have Keiichi wish for her, since in the case of two conflicting contracts, the most recent one always takes precedence."

"So, you're saying you knew all this stuff all along?" Keiichi said accusingly.

Urd ran a hand through her hair. "Of course."

Keiichi glowered. "Then just what did you mean when you said that if you told me what to do, I wouldn't be able to do it? I mean, it's just a wish--if I'd known, I could have done it a long time ago."

"Ah, there's the thing." Urd raised a finger. "See, it's not just a wish. Wishes from goddesses have to be from the heart. When you wished for Belldandy just now, even though you probably didn't expect it to come true, you meant it, with all of your heart."

At this, Belldandy reached over and touched Keiichi's hand, causing him to blush bright red.

Urd reached over and gave him a slap on the back, which didn't help. "By the way, nice work, kiddo! For a while there, I wasn't sure you had it in you."

Keiichi rolled his eyes. "Oh, thanks. And hey, if that's true, then how was it that Mara granted my wish in the first place?"

"You're forgetting something," Urd explained. "Mara's a demon. They don't have that kind of limitation--in fact, since what they do is based on deception and suffering, they don't want to grant your true wish. Instead, they try to get you to say the first thing that comes to mind--and then, they twist it around and make you pay for it."

"So if this whole thing was just to make my life miserable, then why drag Belldandy into it?"

Urd sighed. "Yeah, now that you mention it, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I mean, I'd assume her whole idea was to make Bell suffer, but I can't imagine why that would involve you. It doesn't quite add up--unless Bell and Keiichi had some sort of personal attachment before then."

Keiichi shrugged, and glanced over at Bell, who had inclined her head for some reason. "I don't think so," he ventured.

Urd smiled roguishly. "I promised Mara I'd tear her limb from limb when this was over. Maybe this would be a good time to go talk to her."

Belldandy raised a hand as her elder sister stood. "Urd, don't--"

"Bell, what she did to you and Keiichi is inexcusable, and I'm not gonna let her get away with it."

Keiichi stood up. "I'm with Urd on this. She put us through a lot--the least she could do now is own up to it."

"No kidding," said Megumi, who had remained quiet up until then. "I'm going too."

Skuld jumped to her feet. "Hey, don't all run off without me!"

"Coming, Bell?" asked Urd.

Belldandy shook her head. "I really don't want to see Mara right now. Just ... be careful, okay? I don't want anyone to get hurt--not even Mara."

Urd shook her head and smiled. "Belldandy, you're a better goddess than I."

Skuld grinned impishly. "Yeah, that's why she's first class, and you're second!"

"Shut up, you little twerp!"

It was a sensation not unlike walking into a quiet war zone. Keiichi took a deep breath and squared his shoulders as he opened the door to his apartment. "Mara?" he called out.

No answer was forthcoming.

"Hello?" he called again. After a few seconds of silence, he glanced back at Urd, Skuld, and his sister, and gave a slight shrug. Stepping inside, he held the door open and motioned for them to follow.

"That's strange," he mused as they passed by.

"Not really," Urd replied. "I'm guessing she's already gone."

Cautiously, Keiichi stepped over to the TV room and slid the door open. It, too, was empty.

"Think she's in her room?" Megumi suggested.

"One way to find out." Urd strode purposefully toward the door to Mara's bedroom and rapped on it insistently, causing it to rattle in its railing. "Open up, Mara!" Hearing no answer, she slid it open and looked inside.

"Well," she said, after glancing around the room for a few seconds, "I think it's safe to say that she's gone."

Keiichi wandered over for a look, along with Skuld and Megumi, and found the room empty of all of Mara's possessions, save for one CD that was left lying conspicuously in the center of the floor, face up. Hesitantly, he walked inside and knelt down to pick it up, eying it curiously.

"It's Madonna's 'I'll Remember' single," he said. "What's this doing here?"

"It's her medium," Urd answered.

Keiichi looked at her. "Her what?"

"Every goddess and demon has a medium that they use to travel between Heaven or Hell, and the Earth realm," she explained. "I go through TV sets, Skuld here goes through water, and Belldandy uses mirrors. Mara uses CDs."

"...which explains why she destroyed my stereo when she got here," Keiichi finished. "Any idea why she'd use this particular one?"

Urd shrugged. "It was probably just laying around somewhere. I doubt Mara would put any thought into it, really."

Keiichi was about to suggest that they go back and talk to Belldandy, but at that moment, the telephone rang. "Just a sec--lemme go get that," he said, standing up and taking the CD with him.

"Hello?" he said into the phone. "Yes, this is he ... uh-huh ... Oh, that's great! Glad to hear he's doing better! ... Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure about that, but maybe. Can I get back to you about it? ... Sure. Yeah, some time in the next day or so, definitely ... All right, thanks! Bye."

"Who was that?" Megumi asked suspiciously as her brother hung up.

"That was the guy I'm subletting from. Apparently his dad's cancer went into spontaneous remission not too long ago, and now that everything's all right, he wanted to know if he could get his apartment back. Kind of a weird coincidence that he called just now, though."

"Not at all," said Urd. "It's the Ultimate Force at work, setting right all the things that were affected by the Infernal Power when you made your first wish."

"So, I take it I'm going to have to get used to this sort of thing, then?"

"Yeah, that about sizes it up. It's a side effect of being in the presence of divinity." She winked fondly at him. "Anyway, we should probably be getting back. I'd hate for Bell to get worried about us, especially after all she's been through lately."

The others nodded their assent, and the four of them together went back across the hall to speak with Belldandy. They found her seated at the living room table, lost in thought.

"She's already gone," Urd said as they walked in.

Belldandy nodded.

"Apparently she ran off before we got there," Urd continued, crossing her arms. "That's all right, though--I'll catch her later. Oh, and the guy Keiichi's subletting from called--apparently wants his apartment back."

Megumi looked at her brother, concerned. "What do we do? I mean, we really don't have room for another person here."

Urd smiled. "I know a place."

It took them the rest of the week to get moved into the temple. Keiichi and Megumi were at first horrified at the thought of moving into a run-down shack, but their fears were short-lived; Belldandy used a magic spell that restored the building to its former glory in the space of a night.

Finding someone to take Megumi and Belldandy's apartment had been much easier than expected; an applicant showed up almost as soon as they put the ad in the paper. Belldandy said it that was the Ultimate Force at work, although a skeptical Megumi would not allow herself to be convinced that it wasn't just because a new quarter was going to be starting soon.

Urd and Skuld's attempted return to the heavens resulted in, if nothing else, an impressive lightshow. A bolt of God's own lightning came down from the heavens as they tried to return, engraving His message into the stone in front of the temple:

"Urd, goddess second class, and Skuld, goddess in training, second class, as punishment for your tampering with the Yggdrasil system, your licenses are hereby suspended for no less than six months, and you are to remain on Earth for that entire period. So it is written."

A heated argument about who was to blame ensued soon afterwards, and continued until Belldandy distracted them with a freshly baked batch of chocolate chip cookies.

That night, once the newly required living arrangements had been made, they sat down at the table for a quiet dinner, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Let me get that," said Keiichi, setting his soup spoon down on his plate. With a contented smile on his face, he strolled over to the temple's large front door and slid it open.

"Morisato!" said a big, booming voice. "We heard you were finished moving in, so we thought we'd all come down and throw you a housewarming party!"

"Oh, great!" he replied, trying his hardest to sound sincere. "Well, come in."

Alcohol in hand, Tamiya, Ootaki, and the horde of twenty or thirty other Auto Club members bounded into the living room and began partying in earnest.

If there was one thing that could be said about the men of the Nekomi Tech Auto Club, it was that they knew how to throw a party. That was why things were still going strong four hours later, when Belldandy began to feel vaguely uneasy. She made her way through the noisy crowd toward Urd, who seemed to be drawing an awful lot of attention from the drunken guys in the vicinity. A light touch on the shoulder was all it took to get her attention.

Noticing the trepidation in her sister's face, she excused herself from the group and walked over to a quiet corner where they could speak freely. "What's wrong, Bell?" she asked.

"I think Mara's outside. I can feel her presence."

Urd made a face. "Want me to go out and rip her a new one?"

"That sort of thing never does anyone any good," said Belldandy, shaking her head. "Go talk to her if you'd like, but please don't fight. It's too good a night to ruin that way."

Urd sighed. "All right, Bell, if you say so." Taking one last look at the party, she headed outside into the cool spring night. The sun had set hours ago, the last vestiges of twilight having passed long before.

The goddess took in a deep breath, smelling the air. It was a pleasant, sweet smell, like after a rainstorm. She descended the temple's stone staircase, her heels tapping lightly on the ground as she did so. "I know you're out here, Mara," she said, not loudly, but with enough volume to be heard over the ambient noise of the city and the muffled chatter from inside.

"I figured you did," said Mara, stepping out through the front gate, from behind the wall separating the temple grounds from the road. She was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a loose-fitting blouse--pretty, but at the same time unassuming. The look suited her.

"So," said Urd conversationally, "what makes you think you have the right to be here?"

Mara gave a sad shrug. "Dunno. I was just wandering around aimlessly, and this is where I ended up."

"Well, I hope you're not expecting anyone to forgive you. The only reason I'm not tearing you to pieces right now is because Bell asked me not to."

The demoness sniffed. "Ha. Don't flatter yourself, Urd. Only one around here that's bitchy enough to make good on threats is me."

"Point conceded," replied Urd, taking a moment to quickly brush off one of the steps with her hand before taking a seat.

Mara sat down next to her at the implied invitation, resting her elbows on her knees, and her chin on the heels of her hands. "I hate my life," she said. "I hate it with a passion. I hate it so much that I think I'll enjoy making other people as miserable as I am--and then it turns out I hate that too."

Urd looked over at her. "Is that why you did it?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah ... no. I dunno. I thought it'd be a good plan--make Bell miserable and all. And, hey, if I could make some other people suffer along with her, then all the better, ya know?"

"No, Mara, I don't. You know damn well my sister never did anything to hurt you, so I don't see where you could possibly have reason to hate her so much that you'd pull something this low. I mean, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Where do you get off, judging me? I'm a demon, Urd! I was born a demon, and that's what I'll be for all eternity! You sit there, and you somehow think my life is cake, and that I go around doing whatever the hell I please. Well, hello, Urd! I live in Hell, remember? And Hell isn't fire and brimstone, by the way--it's knowing that you're born and bred to make people suffer, and there's never anything you can do about it! It's knowing that the universe would be a better place if you didn't exist!" Mara choked slightly, wiping a tear from her eye. "Unlike you, I didn't have the option of being a goddess. I didn't get to choose. So if you're gonna judge me, the least you can do is tell me why the hell I didn't get a choice!"

To Urd's surprise, the demoness broke down into a fit of sobbing; clearing a well-planned and hurtful retort from her mind, Urd pulled her childhood friend into a fierce embrace and held her there. I've been doing this a lot lately, she mused.

"He said he'd never care about me," she whispered through her tears. "And then when I started to cry ... he thought I was faking it. He ... he said I ..." Wracked by a fresh bout of sobbing, Mara buried her face into Urd's shoulder and shook violently, unable to continue.

Rocking slowly back and forth, Urd found herself at a loss for words. This was the real Mara, for once. No walls, no pretenses, and no deceptions. And the real Mara was a sad sight indeed. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm sorry things couldn't be different, and I'm sorry I got a choice and you didn't. And I know I have no right to say this, Mara, but you don't have to be this way. That's what free will is. You've got a choice--and it may be a hard one--but you don't have to exist just to make people suffer. You can't change your ancestors, but no one can control the way you act."

Mara sniffed, sitting back up and wiping the wetness from her eyes. "Listen to you--you've been in Heaven way too long, Urd. Not spreading misery would mean walking out on my job. No demon has ever done that before. I don't even want to think about what would happen to me if I tried. I'll always be a demon, and there's nothing I can do to change that."

Urd closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, causing a rose to appear, suspended in front of her. Carefully, so as to avoid being pricked buy the thorns, she plucked it out of the air. "Ever read any Shakespeare, Mara?"

"No, can't say that I have."

Urd eyed the rose noncommittally. "Would it matter if I decided to call this a dandelion?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

The goddess ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Just answer me."

Mara shook her head. "It wouldn't matter at all. I mean, it'd still be a rose. But so what?"

"Then so what if you're called a demon? It's just a name ... it doesn't have any bearing on who you are."

Mara sat back and gazed up at the night sky, smiling sadly. "Thanks, Urd. That's nice to hear, even if you are dead wrong. Anyway, far be it from me to keep you from a party. Go enjoy yourself, all right?"

Urd nodded, standing up and brushing herself off. "G'night, Mara."

"Night, Urd." Mara stood as well, taking one last look at the temple before strolling off into the night.

Some time later, Keiichi sat alone on the temple's back porch. The party, despite having gone on for quite a while, showed no signs of slowing. He was not an antisocial person by nature, but, being somewhat shy, the constant noise inside was beginning to wear on him; it was a great relief when he finally managed to get out of sight long enough to slip through the door.

Taking a seat on the old cedar deck, he leaned back on his hands and took a deep breath, savoring the cool wind. He winced inwardly at the sound of the door sliding open quietly behind him--it was probably Tamiya or Ootaki, coming out to drag him back inside.

"May I join you?"

It was Belldandy. With all the commotion of the party, he had had little chance to speak with her over the course of the night. "Yeah, sure," he said nervously.

"Pretty night," she said, taking a seat beside him. Her hair smelled wonderful.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. Hey Belldandy?" he ventured, seeing her gazing up into the night sky.

"Mm?"

"Do you believe in fate?"

She smiled wistfully. "I think so."

"Have you ever asked ... you know ..." he trailed off, pointing into the sky.

"The Almighty? No. And I think He wants us to discover some of these things for ourselves. That's what believing is, after all."

Keiichi looked up into the sky; it was an incredibly clear night, as if a perfect, crystalline picture had been painted across the heavens just for them. Hesitantly, he reached out and put his arm around her. Edging up right next to him, she leaned on his shoulder and sighed contentedly.

Finally, things were as they should be.

-

A note from the authors: The sequel to this story, Faith & Free Will, is in active development as of August 2005. Keep an eye out for it here, or watch the author's homepage.


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